Jailed for leading role in £900k drugs gang
County man in trips to Netherlands to buy amphetamine
A LEICESTERSHIRE man has been jailed for his part in a drugs gang that produced almost £900,000 worth of amphetamine.
Keith Harrison, 65, of Walcote Road, South Kilworth, Lutterworth, was jailed for five years. He was the righthand man alongside kingpin David Smallman.
The court heard how the group went to Amsterdam, Middlesbrough and Tamworth to purchase ingredients needed to make the street drug.
They then rented a cottage in an isolated part of Wales where they mixed them together to produce 89kg of the class B substance. But unbeknown to them, police were carrying out undercover surveillance work on them.
When they began to load the finished product into a van, officers swooped to arrest them.
At Derby Crown Court, all five pleaded guilty to a string of charges.
Four out of five members of the gang have been jailed for a combined total of 20 years.
Judge Shaun Smith QC told them: “This was a conspiracy between the five of you to produce amphetamine on an industrial scale.
“It was some 90kg and there was also found enough raw material to produce kilos more of it.
“You obtained
David Smallman, 49, of Osmaston Road, Derby, was the head organiser of the conspiracy and was jailed for six years and nine months. His barrister Richard Butcher said: “He accepts the prosecution’s case against him but he had no experience of the production of amphetamine and had to rely on others.”
Abigail Joyce, another barrister, said: “In terms of financial gain he was not going to gain substantially. He had become jobless following ill health and took the stupid decision to involve himself in this which he bitterly regrets.”
Robert Richards, 59, of Ripon Road, Walsall, was jailed for three years and nine months. Vasanti Vaitha, mitigating, said: “He is a former mechanic and acted as an employee, purchasing under instruction.” raw pure amphetamine from the Netherlands and then set about buying the ingredients to mix it down and maximise profits.”
Earlier in the hearing, prosecutor Gareth Weetman said the conspiracy ran between September and December last year and that the seized
Neil Waring, 42, of Berwick Close, Alvaston, also played a significant role and was jailed for four-and-a-half years. The court was told he was also caught in possession of a stun gun disguised as a torch in the Living Lounge bar in Derby. Steven Taylor, his barrister, said: “The defendant worked for the last 20 years as a car valeter, is blind in one eye and has an underactive thyroid. He knows he was stupid.”
Shaun Winfield, 35, of Sidney Close, Derby, played a lesser role, being paid £250 to buy one of the ingredients used to mix with the amphetamine. He was given a 21-month jail term, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 150 hours’ unpaid work, 15 rehabilitation days and a six-month drug rehab requirement. drugs had a street value of £880,000.
He said Smallman Harrison travelled Amsterdam to buy amphetamine which delivered to a storage they had rented.
The pair returned to pay for the goods on a second trip to Amsterdam and members then purchased the next mixing ingredient, called Methanol, from a firm in Tamworth.
He said Neil Waring, of Alvaston, was recruited by Smallman and was overheard by police surveillance teams in one telephone call saying “if the police stop me with what I have now I’ll do about eight years (in jail)”.
The prosecutor said: “Mr Smallman then went to Middlesbrough to buy the next ingredient and then another defendant, Shaun Winfield, was recruited to buy the last ingredient, sulphuric acid, and to pure was unit from a firm in Tamworth. He told the firm he needed it to clean some stones.”
The court heard all of the ingredients were then driven to the rural location in central Wales by Harrison and Robert Richards, who had rented a cottage for the weekend. They then mixed everything together to make the 88.83kg of now 11 per cent pure amphetamine.
Mr Weetman said: “Police were waiting for them to return and in a van on Harrison’s driveway they found the 89kg.”
The other conspirators were arrested at different times and locations over the next month.
They all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce amphetamine with some of the defendants also admitting other charges.