A MOTHER and son from Dorchester were jailed for a total of seven and half years for dealing drugs.

Zena Elizabeth Loader, 49, and Wayne Douglas Loader, 30, were found guilty of conspiracy to supply drugs following a trial at Dorchester Crown Court last month.

Judge Samuel Wiggs sentenced Zena Loader, of Poundbury Crescent, Dorchester, to five years in prison at Bournemouth Crown Court.

Wayne Loader, of Merrivale, Poundbury, Dorchester, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

Both will serve half their sentences and then be released on licence.

The charges arose out of a police operation in Dorchester in the summer of 2008 when an undercover police officer collected drugs from Zena Loader’s former home in Edwards Court.

On two occasions he was handed drugs through the window of the property by a man who said he was Zena’s son, the court was told.

The jury found them guilty after hearing that they were part of a small operation supplying heroin and cocaine to users.

In mitigation, Neil Hinton said Zena Loader was under pressure from drug suppliers at the time.

He said: “At the time of the offences she was someone who was heavily involved with the drug culture and she was behaving in a way that perhaps without the pressure she would not have been.”

He added that Zena Loader had turned her life around in the last two years.

Nick Tucker, in mitigation for Wayne Loader, said that his client was in a different category to his mother.

He said: “It may well be that Wayne Loader was aware of the pressures his mother was under and he was helping for that reason.

“He is generally speaking a useful member of society who has a good employment record.”

The court was told how Zena Loader admitted having a history of drug addiction and a number of previous convictions for dishonesty offences.

Since June 23 she had been subject to an electronic curfew as part of her bail conditions and subsequently 23 days were taken off her sentence.

Wayne Loader has one drug related previous conviction which dates back to 2000.

When sentencing Judge Wiggs told Zena Loader that he understood she was under a degree of pressure.

He said: “I was expecting to pass six years in prison but because you have been subject to the requirements of reporting to the police and a curfew, and the improvements you have made to your own life, I have reduced that to five years.”

Judge Wiggs then told Wayne that he had reduced his sentence from three years in prison to two and a half years partly because he had been in no further trouble and also because of his good work record.

n lucy.pearce@dorsetecho.co.uk