ANTI-DRUGS CRUSADER RECEIVES DEATH THREAT

A TORY councillor has received a death threat after launching a one-man
campaign to stop heroin dealers taking over his market town.

Alex Bentley, 57, a former Army sergeant, was telephoned at his farmhouse
home near Skipton, North Yorks, and told: "Back away or we'll kill you."

He told the caller, a man, that he would not be deflected by personal threats.

Mr Bentley, who was involved in anti-drugs work in the Army, launched his
civilian campaign last year after seeing drug dealers trading openly on
Skipton's cobbled town centre streets.

He believes the level of heroin addiction in Skipton, traditionally known
as "the gateway to the Dales", has now reached "near-epidemic proportions".

David Curry, the town's Conservative MP, described the death threat as
"monstrous". He claimed that drug-taking in rural Yorkshire was far more
widespread than many believed.

Significant quantities of heroin first appeared in Skipton in the
mid-1990s. Since then it has spread to such scenic Dales villages as
Grassington.

Peter Walbank, the village's Conservative representative on Craven district
council, said the problem had worsened in recent months.

He praised Mr Bentley's stand. "Somebody has got to stand up to them."

Senior police officers insisted that Skipton was no better and no worse
than any other town in the county.

As a result of drug raids carried out last year nine people were serving
prison sentences, with a further six suspected dealers awaiting trial, a
spokesman said.