A drug dealer alerted police to his exploits after carving his name and address into a branch on the territory he sought to control.
Shane Unwin scratched his nickname - ‘Onion’ - and the Huyton estate he lived on into a tree close to where his dealers operated. Part of the message also read: “F*** the drug squad”.
Unwin led a crack cocaine and heroin network that operated on the streets of Warrington. Hotspots for their activity included Great Sankey Valley Park, the scene of the tree carving that, referring to the Longview estate, read: “Onion of Longy, Huyton.”
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Under his leadership the ‘Onion’ drugs line bombarded addicts with a “mass advertising” campaign that saw customers sent up to 178 drug deal offers a day. Those messages were dispatched by a ‘graft’ phone that detectives were able to link to Unwin, whose gang was busted after every significant member - including him - dealt to undercover police officers.
Liverpool Crown Court today heard the gang’s activities were tracked between October 2020 and May 2021. During that period just under 22,000 ‘flare’ messages - drug deal adverts - were sent by the gang, which is said to have carried out “hundreds” of deals every day.
Cheshire Police found evidence that between 1.5kg and 3kg of heroin and crack cocaine was sold while the gang was active - though the court heard the real amount could be higher. As six members of the gang were sentenced on Tuesday the Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Andrew Menary, QC, said: “The offences came to light as a result of the diligent and clever detective work of officers of Cheshire Constabulary, who identified that all of you, to a greater or lesser extent, were actively involved in County Lines-type trafficking that involved the sale of Class A substances, heroin and crack cocaine, on the streets of Warrington.
“The operators of this particular conspiracy moved significant quantities of drugs from the Huyton area of Liverpool to Warrington, where they were dealt to drug users in that town. It was plainly a very successful operation, trading on most of the days, if not all the days, of the conspiracy.”
The court heard each of the defendants had admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine, apart from Kris Bamford, who only admitted conspiracy to supply heroin. Unwin, 27 and of Hale View Road in Huyton, was described as the leader of the gang, though Judge Menary accepted there would have been others above him in the wider drugs industry.
The court was told he “regretted” his crimes, which breached a suspended sentence handed to him for assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison.
Second in command Callum Cargin was said to have played a key role, travelling from Huyton to oversee business in Warrington. When he was arrested he was caught in possession of 65 wraps of cocaine and heroin.
The court heard the dad had a young family and since being held in custody in Altcourse had shown positive signs of development. The 26-year-old, of Knowsley Lane, Huyton, was sentenced to six years and eight months.
Jack Murphy returned to the drugs business after being released from a 2020 sentence for being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs. The 20-year-old, of Nightingale Road in Croxteth Park, was sentenced to three years in a young offenders institution.
Paul Ellis was one of the gang’s Warrington-based members. The 56-year-old was said to have been paid in drugs and used his Rixton Avenue home to deal from. Described as a “customer who graduated to being a dealer”, he was sentenced to two years and eight months in jail.
The court heard Darren Houghton had “significant” health problems and had turned to drugs as a form of self-medication. Also paid in drugs, the 49-year-old dealt from his Trafford Avenue home and was sentenced to three years in jail.
Bamford’s home on White Cross Road was used as a safehouse by the gang. The long-term addict, aged 36, was sentenced to three years in jail.
Following the case a teenager was sent to the cells for several hours after he was caught filming the defendants as they were led from the dock. He was later brought back before Judge Menary and admitted contempt.
The court heard he had filmed a short video on SnapChat but had not published it when court staff intervened. Judge Menary warned the boy about his actions but declined to take further action due to his age, guilty plea and lack of previous convictions. He told him: “It’s not a good idea to hang around with people who end up going to prison.”
