Man sold cocaine in town pub to undercover police
A MAN who sold cocaine to undercover officers after boasting he had “the best gear in Loughborough” has been jailed.
Liam Walsh was given two years and four months in prison after he approached the officers and openly offered to sell them drugs while in a pub in Ashby Road, Loughborough.
The 26-year-old told them he was selling cocaine for £40 a gram and it was the best in Loughborough for the price.
A few hours later, on August 31, 2018, the defendant sold two grams to one of the officers after approaching him with eight wraps of cocaine – telling him to choose the ones he wanted.
Walsh, of Derby Road, Loughborough, was detained earlier this year as part of Leicestershire Police’s Operation Lionheart.
He was arrested following months of gathering information and evidence on those believed to be selling and distributing cocaine and heroin in the town.
At a hearing in July Walsh pleaded guilty to one count of supplying class A drugs, one count of possession with intent to supply class A drugs and one count of offering to supply class A drugs.
He pleaded not guilty to a further count of supplying class A drugs – this will now lie on file.
At Leicester Crown Court on Friday, August 30, he was jailed for the three offences.
Also sentenced on the same day, 38-year-old Scott Smith, of Marshalls Court, Loughborough.
He was given a 23-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to four counts of supplying class A drugs.
The counts relate to four separate dates, between September 2 and November 13, 2018, when Smith sold heroin from an address in Moira Street, Loughborough.
A further six defendants, who were all part of a county lines gang operating in Loughborough, also appeared at court on Friday, pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
They are: Iakam Hassan, 18, of Billington Close, Leicester; Sebastian Garner, 19, of no fixed address; Qmar Riley, 21, of Faversham Close, Leicester; Reece Page, 21, of Dupont Gardens, Leicester; Lee Ryan Smith, 24, of Ranger Close, Leicester; and Tapiwa Chokufa, 25, of no fixed address.
A seventh defendant, Mason Cooper, 19, of Cross Hedge Close, Leicester, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
The group, along with three other defendants who were part of the same gang and had already pleaded guilty, are due to be sentenced at the beginning of October.