A DRUGS chain sold at least £1,000 of crack cocaine and heroin every day and used vulnerable people to do the dirty work.

The Liverpudlian-based network called ‘Jish’ enlisted naive women and wayward young men to get crack cocaine and heroin into the Brighton market through an army of drugs runners-come-dealers.

The group was the centre of a ten-month investigative police operation which saw drugs sourced from the northern city often hidden in the steering wheel of a car, Hove Crown Court was told yesterday.

In the second day of the sentencing of 15 defendants representing each link in the chain yesterday, the court was told the business was run by ring leader Kevin Tynan and his second in command Blake Kirk, known as ‘Rodge’.

All pleaded guilty to their part in the process after officers gathering a glut of evidence against them.

Prosecuting Mary Walford said there was a “clear hierarchy” in the chain with a handful of the defendants playing a “significant role” in operations. The men at the top of the pecking order originated from Liverpool, where the drugs were sourced, cut and packaged.

Police monitored their movements on CCTV, used plain clothes officers to buy drugs and followed the drugs gang up and down the country to build the case.

Miss Walford said officers witnessed an estimated half a million pounds of drugs being dealt during the course of the investigation.

Money launderers paid in thousands of pounds of cash at Preston Circus Lloyds bank and a flat in Thornsdale, Albion Hill, Brighton was used as a base for the operation, Miss Walford said.

Richmond Park Parade, North Laine, Albion Road, Wellington Road and an underpass on the A270 Old Shoreham Road were some of the areas where drug deals and exchanges took place.

Yesterday drugs runner Tyler Boarer was sent to jail for seven and a half years, John Dykes received a four year sentence and Shawn Dempsey received a four and a half year sentence, all for conspiracy to supply, after being seen on numerous occasions to deal drugs to customers who called dedicated hook-up numbers.

Judge Rennie, the prosecution and the defence agreed three further defendants should receive lesser sentences, also for conspiracy to supply.

William Hardaker, 22, Knocklaid Road, Liverpool, was given a two year sentence, suspended for two years, and a 10pm to 6am curfew.

Giuseppe Baker, 18, Romsey Close, Brighton, received an 18 month sentence suspended for two years, and a 10pm to 6am curfew.

Yasmine Wheeler, 33, Hallett Road, Brighton, was sentenced to 12 months, suspended for a year, for money laundering and production of cannabis.

Detective sergeant Julian Deans, of the Sussex Police Organised Crime Investigation Team, said at least a thousand pounds of hard drugs was being dealt every day on city streets through chains stretching across the country.

He said previous operations found areas as large as the Whitehawk estate controlled by drugs criminals.

DS Deans, who has worked in the team for ten years, said: “This network has established lines of supply.

“We believe they were dealing in Brighton every day and that Liverpudlian groups in general supply the city every seven to ten days.”

He said the police focussed on tackling “every rung of the ladder” and the guilty pleas from the defendants were thanks to the amount of evidence gathered by the police.

He said: “These operations have been successful due to the professionalism of my team and we work extremely closely with the Crown Prosecution Service and they have been brilliant from day one.

“We have strong links with Merseyside Police and work together with them.

“It is nice to get right to the top of the chain.

“We will continue to be relentless in our pursuit of drugs chains, we will chase them, we will hunt them down, and we will not stop until we catch them and we will travel anywhere in the country to deal with drugs.

“Brighton is an attractive location at the end of the drug line – it is popular as a south coast town, it is the end of a train line.

“We are lucky in that the drugs scene is different here than in Liverpool, which is a beautiful city but when you look below the surface there is a nasty drugs culture.

“We are fortunate in Brighton that we don’t have that problem.

“There is drug use like any city but there is no gang culture.”

He said often ring leaders see convictions and prison sentences merely as an occupational hazard for their business.

He said: “They have done it before and they will do it again. But we want them to know we will be there to catch them again when that happens. I have to believe some will learn their lessons.”

DS Deans agreed with comments from the prosecution and Judge David Rennie in court that the ring leaders prey on vulnerable individuals to “do their dirty work”.

He said: “Our priority is Class A drugs like heroin and crack cocaine.

“They are dangerous and, heroin in particular, kills people.

“The unit now investigates drug and particularly heroin-related deaths in the city because we know the supply chain.

“It strives us on to continue tackling these networks when we see the dead body at the end of the chain.”

The defendants who pleaded guilty

Sentenced on Thursday

Nikki Calladine, aka Quest, 20, Thornsdale, Albion Hill, Brighton, was given a two-year suspended sentence for money laundering and a three-month 10pm to 6am curfew and has to attend help sessions.

Lauren Healey, 28, Ancaster Road, and Stephanie Blair, 34, Dauber Close, both of Liverpool, were both given a four-month suspended prison sentence for money laundering and curfew.

Carly Williams, 19, Ince Avenue, Liverpool, was given a three-month suspended sentence and put on probation for a year for money laundering.

Sentenced on Friday

Drugs runner John Dykes, 20, of Goodward Street, Liverpool, was given four years for supplying heroin and crack cocaine.

Shawn Dempsey, 19, Queen’s Mews, Liverpool, was given four-and-a-half years for supplying heroin and crack cocaine.

Tyler Boarer, 22, Downland Court, Portslade, seven and a half years for supplying heroin and crack cocaine and a six month concurrent sentence for biting a police officer when they tried to arrest him.

William Hardaker, 22, Knocklaid Road, Liverpool, was given a two year suspended sentence and a curfew for supplying heroin and crack cocaine.

Giuseppe Baker, 18, Romsey Close, Brighton, was given an 18 month suspended sentence for supplying heroin and crack cocaine and six months for causing alarm or distress after using racially aggravated language and common assault.

Yasmine Wheeler, 33, Hallett Road, Brighton, was given a four months suspended sentence for money laundering and an eight month suspended sentence for the production of cannabis, and a three month curfew.

Due to be sentenced on December 1

Kirk Blake, 25, and Kevin Tynan, 36, both of Ermine Crescent, Liverpool, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply.

Michael Hancock, 21, Whiterock Street, Liverpool, pleaded guilty to money laundering and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Frances Hughes, 66, Richard Kelly Drive, Liverpool, pleaded guilty to money laundering, and Murrell Kinch, 55, Ryelands Drive, Brighton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine.

Crack down

THE Organised Crime Investigation Team has operated for ten years within Sussex Police, carrying out a number of operations to tackle drugs crime. 

Operation Woburn, which infiltrated the Jish network most recently, took place over a ten month period up until June 5 and so far more than 20 people have been charged with drug related offences. 

In the last two years the team’s work has helped to secure 250 years of jail terms for convicted criminals.

Their work is partially funded by the Crime Reduction Initiative.