THE leader of a drug-dealing gang that supplied heroin, ecstasy and cannabis to people in Darwen didn't get a day too long behind bars, top judges have ruled.

Sergio Posteraro, 40 of Anchor Avenue, Darwen, pleaded guilty at Preston Crown Court in April last year to supplying class A and Class B drugs. Two months later he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the result of the police operation Connecticut. Nine other gang members were also convicted.

Posteraro's legal team, who branded his sentence manifestly excessive, argued there were other dealers higher up the chain. and said he hadn't lived the high life as a result of his criminal activity.

But Judge Jones said the sentence passed on Posteraro, who masterminded the sale of drugs from a garage called the Red Star Unit, Hutchinson Street, Darwen, could not be criticised in any way.

However, the judges did reduce the sentence of a gang member Ali Nasir Shigri, 20, of Blackburn Road, Darwen, who had received three years in a young offenders institution for supplying ecstasy tablets.

A third member of the gang, Donna Redfern, of Hacking Street, Darwen, will discover tomorrow whether the judges consider her sentence to be manifestly excessive.