Four men have been sentenced today to a total of 18 years and 7 months in prison for for their involvement in a Conspiracy to illegally supply Class A Drugs into Barrow in Furness.
At Preston Crown Court, Nicholas Flaherty, aged 21 from Cleadon Road, Liverpool was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment; Kurtis Carney, 22, from Blossom Grove, Liverpool was sentenced to 5 years and 5 months imprisonment, Daniel Barclay, 21, from Greengate Street, Barrow was sentenced to 3 years and 7 months imprisonment and Andrew Millington aged 28 from Lindal Street, Barrow was sentenced to 3 years and 7 months imprisonment.
The sentencing follows a lengthy investigation conducted by the Targeting Unit based in South Cumbria that focused on the illicit supply of controlled drugs from the Merseyside area to Barrow in Furness. The conspiracy came to a conclusion on the 25th June 2011 when Flaherty and Carney were stopped in a local taxi in the area of Schneider Road. Quantities of heroin and crack cocaine were recovered with a street value of £240. This consisted of 11 street deals of cocaine and one street deal of heroin. Both were arrested on suspicion of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply.
As a result of these arrests, police attended the home address of Andrew Millington who was not present when the police entered. However Barclay was present and when searched they found 18 bags of cannabis in £20 street deals, £115, a cannabis grinder and a mobile phone.
Also at the address were a machete, shotgun cartridge and paraphernalia associated with the supply of drugs. On searching one of the bedrooms police located a hold all that belonged to Carney which had £1,800 cash within it.
Police then searched a property on Greengate which was the home address of Barclay and found mobile phones and £1,000 worth of cocaine in his bedroom. Officers then searched an outhouse in the property and found 108 street deals of cocaine that appeared to be in ‘crack’ form. This had a street value of £2,160.
Andrew Millington was soon arrested for his involvement in this conspiracy as he was the owner of a property on Lindal Street, Barrow. He handed himself into the police on the 30th June 2011.
An integral part of this investigation was centred on mobile phones and the use of what is described as a ‘dirty phone’. A ‘dirty phone’ is often used by a drug dealer which, in this case, was heavily contacted by Barrow drug addicts. Police were able to establish that 36 different Barrow residents, known by the police to be drug addicts, had been in contact with that ‘dirty phone’ on many occasions.
The defendant Flaherty was connected to this ‘dirty phone’ on regular occasions throughout the entire period of the police investigation. Those four defendants entered into this conspiracy all playing different roles.
All four defendants pleaded guilty at Barrow Crown Court on the 10th January 2012.
Detective Constable Jamie Eaton said, “Today’s hearing marks the end of a complex investigation that uncovered a group that were involved in the supply of Class A drugs in the Barrow in Furness area.
“Thanks to the hard work of the targeting and intelligence units at Barrow police station, we have managed to apprehend and convict a network of drug dealers who crossed two force areas.
“Police work hard to tackle drugs in Barrow and lot of work goes on behind the scenes to build up cases so that we can take early, preventative steps to stop illegal drugs being pedalled onto our streets. Members of the public played a large part in this enquiry and we thank them for their support as we work together to tackle drugs in our communities. We rely on the public informing us of suspicious activity or information around illegal drug use or supply in the area. If you have information, please contact Barrow Police on 101.”
Detective Sergeant John Carton from South Cumbria’s Target Unit said, “Police are determined to bring anyone involved in the illegal supply of controlled drugs within Cumbria
“We will not tolerate those who believe that they can travel into our county and bring drugs onto our streets.
“Today’s result shows the result of thorough police investigations. We make sure that the criminals involved are brought before their courts.”
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