School-gate drug dealers face longer jail sentences

Ministers plan greater protection for children as committee recommends cannabis reclassification and 'shooting galleries' scheme

Dealers face stiffer jail sentences if they sell drugs near schools, ministers announced yesterday. The Government intends to introduce an offence of aggravated drug dealing for people arrested close to schools, Ivan Lewis, the minister with special responsibility for young people, said.

Mr Lewis described peddlers at school gates as "scum" and "low-life" at a meeting with the parents of Rachel Whitear, the 21-year-old heroin addict whose corpse is pictured in an educational video to be shown in schools as part of new "shock tactics" to make youngsters more aware of the dangers of drugs.

The dealers who sold drugs near schools faced jail sentences between three and five years longer than the present maximum, sources indicated.

A senior aide to Estelle Morris, the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, said: "These people are the lowest of the low. They peddle their evil outside school gates because they know children are vulnerable." Mr Lewis told Rachel's parents that Ms Morris was working on proposals with the Home Office to introduce the new offence.

The parents, Mick and Pauline Holcroft, backed the move. Mrs Holcroft said: "As far as I'm concerned this is very good news. They are feeding off the vulnerable, aren't they?"

During the meeting, they discussed the video – to be made available to all state primary and secondary schools – and its impact on young people. Mrs Holcroft said the response from pupils who had seen it had been "100 per cent positive".

The plans to make the video available were among several measures outlined by the Government yesterday to crack down on school drug-dealing. Headteachers will also be told they should permanently exclude all guilty pupils, even for a first offence. Exclusion appeals panels are to be told they should not overturn appeals from pupils who deal in drugs.

Many headteachers have said drug-taking is a growing problem, with peddlers congregating outside school gates waiting to prey on pupils as they arrive or go home.

But David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the crackdown on drugs did not go far enough. In a submission to the Department for Education and Skills, his association said: "The attempt to limit permanent exclusions to 'supplying drugs' is too narrow. There are a number of headteachers who feel strongly the 'use' of drugs ought to trigger exclusion permanently if the school believes this to be justified.

"Saying that dealing means permanent exclusion, and possession does not, might easily encourage dealers to find ways around what is seen as extremely serious by all schools."

The association said it wanted heads to be given support for permanently excluding pupils "for any sufficiently serious one-off offence". It added: "What about serious crimes not covered by the guidance? How can it be that a young person is at risk of custody if they steal a mobile phone in the street but cannot be removed from school if they do the same in the corridor?"

The group and the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers wanted further curbs on the powers of appeals panels, with the NASUWT going so far as to call for their abolition because they had allowed youngsters guilty of serious offences to return to school. Eamonn O'Kane, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: "It is clear that the Government has become increasingly concerned about decisions made by the appeals panels, as shown by its recent actions to restrain their powers.

"Why not take this to its logical conclusion and abolish them altogether?"