FORMER gang members should be parachuted in to advise councillors on the threat from big city drug dealers.

Camila Batmanghelidjh, former chief executive of failed charity Kids Company, also offered to help Swindon social workers and police officers in their fight against so-called County Lines dealing.

In common with other areas, Swindon has seen an influx of London dealers. Police have warned that children from both London and Swindon have been exploited by gang leaders to sell drugs. Vulnerable addicts have also had their homes turned into pop-up drug dens; a practice known as cuckooing.

Asked what advice she had for Swindon councillors, Ms Batmanghelidjh said: “Bring in a couple of ex-gang leaders.” She added that she would be happy to help the council.

Speaking to the Advertiser after she appeared at the Festival of Literature, Ms Batmanghelidjh added: “I think you have to consider this as a safeguarding issue. You need a department that can deal with the levels of risk it presents.”

She said that gang members exploiting children would threaten to kill family members: “One child can have a whole network of 20 plus people implicated as a result of their behaviour. We’re not set up to deal with that level of risk.”

The former Kids Company chief executive’s comments followed revelations last week that there were an estimated 1,000 county lines drug networks across the UK.

South Swindon MP Robert Buckland, who as solicitor general is involved in the government’s work to tackle drugs gangs, said: “There has been much valuable intervention work done with young people by former gang members and this is recognised and fully understood by the government.

“This is very often a safeguarding issue and in many cases, a tough decision has to be made as to whether or not to treat young drug mules at the bottom of the supply chain as criminals or as victims themselves.

“Our new Serious Crime Strategy gives us a helpful framework and I will continue to work nationally and locally to find improved ways to tackle this problem.”

Swindon Borough Council had not responded to Ms Batmanghelidjh’s offer by the time the Adver went to press.

Both the council and Wiltshire Police have previously stressed their commitment to targeting county lines drug dealing.

Earlier this year David Haley, director of children’s services, said the council’s new child exploitation team was “looking at a range of child exploitations including criminality and gangs”.

“Once we can really understand the networks within the borough we can tackle it more effectively,” he told a council scrutiny committee.