Gang hid hoard of heroin and cocaine in county villages

ILLEGAL STOCKPILES WERE STASHED IN BOTTESFORD AND REDMILE

A DRUG smuggling gang used quiet Leicestershire villages to stash their illegal stockpiles.

Redmile and Bottesford were staging posts in the gang’s attempts to flood Lincolnshire with crack cocaine, heroin and cocaine from the West Midlands

The cross-country drugs couriers have been jailed for almost 80 years for their trips from Birmingham and Coventry to bring large quantities of drugs to Boston and Grantham, Lincoln Crown Court heard.

Drugs were stashed in the Redmile and Bottesford area en route, said police.

Investigations revealed that Jermaine Alcide, who headed up the gang with his stepfather Wade Walker, set up two sham companies in a bid to explain his earnings from his criminal activity.

Detectives in Lincolnshire used phone records and evidence from automatic number plate recognition cameras and cell-site analysis to link the gang members.

Police twice disrupted the gang when they stopped cars making the GANG MEMBER: Lewis Peters, 22, of Bottesford, was jailed this week

journey into the county in September and October 2017.

Arrests were made and both cash and drugs were recovered but the supply chain continued to operate until officers staged a series of raids in December 2017.

Judge John Pini QC, passing sentence at Lincoln Crown Court this week, said: “It is plain that this was a well-organised, carefully planned and coordinated conspiracy to supply class A drugs.”

The judge said that both Alcide and Walker were leading players in a large-scale dealing operation involving organised gangs in Grantham and the West Midlands.

He said: “Jermaine Alcide was head of the Grantham organised crime group. He was a significant wholesale supplier who coordinated the sourcing and supply of drugs.”

The judge said Shireboy Events Ltd and a property development company Mansa Developments, which Alcide set up, were sham companies “to provide a cover and an explanation for any income he had”.

Alcide, 37, of West Street in Barkston, near Grantham, was jailed for 16 years and two months.

Walker, 58, of Earlsdon Avenue North in Earlsdon, Coventry, was jailed for 14 years and 10 months. Darren Burden, 29, of Hornsby Road, Grantham, who acted as Alcide’s right hand man, was jailed for 11 years and three months.

Lewis Peters, 22, formerly of Boston but now of Cox Drive, Bottesford; and Clinton Haw, 23, of Carlton Road in Boston; were each jailed for nine years.

Martin Hart, 35, of Bridge End Road in Grantham, was jailed for seven and a half years while Craig Haynes, 30, of Beechcroft Road in Grantham, was jailed for six years.

James Evans, 55, of New Beacon Road in Grantham, was jailed for three years and nine months.

He was described as having a low intellectual ability and was only involved for a one month period.

Bobbie-Jayne Pritchett, 22, of Childs Avenue, Bilston in Wolverhampton, was jailed for two years and four months. She was also involved for a shorter period than other defendants.

All nine pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs between May 1 and December 15 2017.

Detective Inspector Paul McMahon, of Lincolnshire Police, said: “It should give them food for thought.

“A number of people will have only been involved at the backend but they are still in custody.

“People who get into it have to expect to go to prison for a long time.”