PRESS RELEASE : Two offenders, Mario Sala and Ewyn Denecker, receive increased prison sentences for supplying class A drugs [November 2022]

Two men who were involved in a conspiracy to supply class A drugs have both received increased sentences after their case was referred to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

Between June 2020 and March 2022, Mario Sala, 33, and Ewyn Denecker, 33, supplied heroin and cocaine in their local area using a drug supply line known as “Gypsy”. During this period Sala would direct Denecker to deliver drugs to postcode areas, while the drug line sent out 26,000 messages to potential customers.

On 26 August 2022 at Portsmouth Crown Court, Sala was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months’ imprisonment, while Denecker was sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment. Both offenders were sentenced for conspiracy to supply the class A drugs crack cocaine and diamorphine.

Following the sentencing, the offenders’ sentences were referred to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme for being too low.

On 17 November 2022, the Court found the original sentences for both Sala and Denecker to be unduly lenient. Sala was ordered to serve a new sentence of 8 years’ imprisonment, while Denecker received a new sentence of 6 years.

Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General Michael Tomlinson MP said:

The illegal drugs supplied by Sala and Denecker are dangerous and ruin lives. Supplying class A drugs at this scale is a serious offence, so I welcome the decision of the Court of Appeal to hand down longer sentences to both offenders today.