CHARITY EXECS GET PRISON FOR NOT HALTING DRUG DEALS

CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND -- Two executives of a charity have been sentenced
to jail for failing to stop drug dealing outside a homeless shelter.

In a packed Cambridge courtroom, Ruth Wyner and John Brock were
sentenced Friday to 5 and 4 years respectively for failing to inform
police about the drug dealing outside Overstream House.

In his ruling, Judge Jonathon Haworth said Wyner and Brock had created
"a haven for heroin dealers" at the shelter.

Wyner, director of the Cambridge charity, Wintercomfort, and Brock, a
project manager, were convicted last month; they had faced sentences
of up to 14 years.

The charity workers' supporters repeatedly interrupted the judge as he
read the ruling. One woman burst into loud sobs when the jail terms
were announced.

At their six-week trial, Wyner and Brock testified they had a duty of
confidentiality to those they were trying to help, which outweighed
their obligations to the police.