A magistrate addicted to heroin was said to have “undermined the criminal justice system” after becoming involved in a major Class A drugs operation run by a gang boss.
Purshotam Dhillon, 59, was jailed for seven years today after Bristol Crown Court heard he had allowed his home to be used as a base for drug dealing by Harry Singh.
Dhillon, who also worked as a housing officer in Hounslow, was convicted after trial of two counts of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs.
Police are now examining whether he misused his public position or drew on his role as a magistrate in any way to help the organised crime group.
Sentencing him by videolink at Bristol Crown Court, Mr Justice Cavanagh noted that Dhillon had been serving as a magistrate for more than two decades.
The judge said it was “disgraceful” that someone sworn to uphold the law had ended up breaking it while still sitting as a magistrate and participating in a significant criminal enterprise.
Mr Justice Cavanagh added that Dhillon, given his years on the bench, should have understood better than most the damage caused by drug dealing.
He said Dhillon had dealt with many drug supply cases during his time as a magistrate while he was himself committing similar offences, first as a drug user and later as someone involved in the supply of drugs.
‘Behaviour like this undermines the criminal justice system. Fortunately it is vanishingly rare.’
Purshotam Dhillon spent almost 25 years as a magistrate in West London and was smoking around 1g of heroin a day
Detective Inspector Mark Gavin, who led the investigation team, said officers were ‘shocked’ to discover Dhillon’s profession.
He said: ‘There had been no material identified prior to his arrest to indicate that Dhillon held a position within the judiciary.
‘That said, given the character of Harry Singh and the way in which he operates, it was not entirely unexpected that he would associate with, and utilise, someone in Dhillon’s position.’
Dhillon spent almost 25 years as a Justice of the Peace in West London, on days when he was not working as a council housing officer in Hounslow.
But he was also smoking around 1g of heroin a day, and using cocaine, supplied to him at ‘mates’ rates’ by known dealer Singh.
The twice-married father-of-four denied allowing his family home in Hounslow to be used for Singh’s illicit operation
Mr Gavin said it was highly likely Singh and his cronies would have deemed Dhillon’s address to be ‘a safe location from which to store drugs and control their criminality’.
He told the Mail: ‘They would have believed that law enforcement would be less likely to suspect that a serving magistrate was involved in an organised crime supplying heroin.
Police raiding Dhillon’s home found his Government identity pass, pictured
‘This would have provided them with a perceived sense of legitimacy and reduced scrutiny.
‘In effect, his position would have offered the group an additional level of confidence in their criminal operations, which ultimately contributed to the organisation, sophistication and concealment of their offending.’
He said at no stage did any staff member from Hounslow Council or the courts service raise concerns to police regarding Dhillon or any suspected use of controlled drugs.
The judge said that Dhillon’s possession of a baseball bat and a baton in his bedroom was because he was ‘at risk of raids by other criminal groups.
‘You were serving as a magistrate in the criminal courts.
‘It is disgraceful to say the least someone sworn to uphold the law in this way should end up on the wrong side of the law and at the same time was serving as a magistrate took part in a major criminal enterprise.
‘You of all people should know the harm drug dealing does.
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‘You knew you had a duty to declare your relationship with Singh because he was a drug dealer but did not do so because it would shed light on your own drug habit.’
The judge said he did not see being a magistrate as an aggravating feature.
But he added Dhillon ‘was a respectable man leading a respectable life in a respectable area’
Prosecutor Martyn Bowyer described how Dhillon used his position as a magistrate to offer an ‘air of respectability’ and avoid suspicion.
He also fraternised regularly with convicted drug dealer Singh, his main supplier, despite knowing it broke the rules for judges and magistrates.
He even helped Singh – who is back in prison awaiting sentence for major drugs offences – apply for benefits such as Universal Credit, jurors at Croydon Crown Court heard.
Several mobile phones, a significant quantity of drugs, scales and a so-called tick-list – used to identify customers and their orders – were found in Dhillon’s home following his arrest last summer.
Police also found a Government identity card, showing Dhillon was a magistrate, and a certificate of commendation due to his length of service.
Leandrea Lynch was also found guilty of drugs offences
Prosecutor Mr Bowyer said: ‘Why is that relevant? Perhaps one of the last people who police would go to search is somebody who is a serving magistrate.
‘It seems Mr Dhillon was well alive to that.’
Giving evidence during his trial, Dhillon admitted his relationship with Singh was a ‘flagrant breach of duty’.
He said: ‘I feel ashamed. It’s regrettable, but really ashamed.
‘(I’ve) just been thinking how I’m going to support them (family). I’ve let everyone down.’
The court heard Dhillon was paid around £44,000 a year for his job at a local authority, and had paid off the mortgage on his home – valued at around £800,000 now – several years earlier.
His wife also worked as a teaching assistant, so he did not suffer the sort of financial hardship other drug users faced, jurors were told.
Dhillon, who was signed off sick from work at the time he was arrested, said the only reason Singh attended his home was either to supply him with drugs or to smoke them together.
Drug dealer Harry Singh regularly used Dhillon’s family home to store his drugs
And he said his family – including the adult children who lived at home and his elderly parents – never asked who Singh was.
The prosecutor said: ‘So does it come to this – when the jury go through these photos and see things being carried into or out of your house, your evidence is it is nothing to do with Harry’s drug enterprise?’
Dhillon replied: ‘I have never been involved in that.’
Fellow defendant Leandrea Lynch, 48, of Hillingdon, who is Singh’s former partner, was found guilty of the same two counts. She was handed a sentence of 30 months, suspended for two years.
She told police she was not concerned in the supply of drugs, and that the small amount found at her home was for personal use only.
Prosecutors said she was ‘at least a runner’ in the operation.
Singh, who admitted a string of drugs offences, was jailed for a total of 12 and a half years.
The judge ordered jurors to find Dhillon not guilty of one count of possessing criminal property after police searching his home found nearly £4,000 in cash in his bedroom – money which evidence proved was for airline tickets and nothing more sinister.
