A gang of suppliers who sold drugs on the streets of Brighton have been jailed.

Judge Cedric Joseph said: "The supply of Class A drugs in the Brighton area is an enormous problem. There must be sentences passed to deter others from peddling these vile and dangerous drugs."

Kelly Mitchell, 28, of Tilstone Street, Brighton; Alan Nolan, 37, of Regency Square, Brighton; Lee Parry, 19, of Pevensey Road, St Leonards; Mark Powell, 24, and Alan Worthington, 25, both from Liverpool, all pleaded guilty to supplying Class A drugs.

They were caught by undercover police as part of Operation New York set up to combat the menace of hard drugs being sold in Brighton and Hove.

All five were working for a gang known as The Scousers who got addicts already hooked on heroin and crack cocaine to sell drugs to others.

The ring leader Ian Edwards, 22, was jailed for four years in May. Sentencing him at the time, Judge Anthony Scott-Gall said Brighton and Hove was "populated by parasite suppliers" who preyed on others. He said it was a "public disgrace" that ordinary people were forced to live alongside them.

The five addicts sentenced at Hove Crown Court yesterday were supplied by The Scousers.

Rose Burns, prosecuting, said all five supplied or were concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine between November last year and March this year.

The drugs were sold to an undercover test purchase officer known as Jason.

Some deals were done outside the Job Centre and St Peter's Church in Brighton city centre. Others took place in the Vernon Terrace, Montpelier Road and Windlesham Avenue areas of Hove.

Nolan and Powell were each jailed for three-and-a-half years, Parry for two-and-a-half-years and Mitchell and Worthington for two years each.

The Argus revealed in February that Operation New York had resulted in more than 100 arrests and a big drop in drug-related crime. Police and their partners in the initiative received a Home Office award in March in recognition of their work.