A County Lines “kingpin” sent his drug mule on undercover missions dressed as commuter in order to avoid police detection.
Shaun Doyle, 27, sat at the head of a Merseyside organised crime group which ran a conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine to users during a seven-month period in 2019 and early 2020.
Doyle initially came to the attention of police in August of 2019 as the passenger of a rental car and was found with crack cocaine potentially worth £12,000 was found inside his trousers.
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As detectives dismantled the conspiracy, they learned Doyle was in control of a “drug line” phone from which “text flares” were sent to advertise the availability of heroin and crack cocaine to multiple users at a time.
At Carlisle Crown Court on Thursday, January 27, prosecutor Julian Goode said: “Drug users would then contact the number and be redirected to a particular location where a street dealer would hand them the drugs in exchange for money."
Acting as those street dealers were three West Cumbria residents — James Postlethwaite, 46, and Karen Pullin, 37, both of Senhouse Street, Maryport; along with 38-year-old Paula Jackson, of Co-Operative Terrace, Flimby.
Above them in the criminal chain of command was Doyle’s trusted right hand man Jacob Hughes-O’Brien, 27, of Altfinch Close, Stockbridge Village, who was caught by police with £40,000 worth of illicit substances at a Harrington safe house in November, 2019; and courier Thomas Jameson, 29, of Towers Road, Childwall.
Jameson was identified three weeks after he was seen arriving in Workington by train and meeting Hughes-O’Brien.
Of that meeting, Mr Goode told the court: “Jameson was dressed smartly, in a blazer, tie; carrying a rucksack and a laptop bag, and to all intents and purposes he looked like the average professional commuter. It is unlikely he would have been stopped by police.”
Had a third party not collected Jameson and also Hughes-O’Brien while surveillance was taking place, added the prosecutor, “there is little doubt the plan would have worked”.
A total of seven criminals were brought in by detectives who used a wealth of mobile phone, CCTV camera and surveillance evidence to bring them down.
The seventh offender, 38-year-old Lee Kirkpatrick, latterly of Wollenscroft, Stainburn, Workington, provided the safe house for storage and drug distribution.
Based on the seizure from O’Brien at Kirkpatrick’s previous Harrington address, police sought to estimate the total quantity of drugs transported by road and rail between Liverpool and West Cumbria, and concluded it was “8kg”, said Mr Goode. Even viewed conservatively, the amount trafficked during the plot “5kg”.
Doyle, of Reedale Road, Mossley Hill, along with Hughes-O’Brien and Jameson, admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine, while Pullen and Postlethwaite were convicted on both counts after a trial.
Jackson admitted conspiracy to supply crack cocaine only, while Kirkpatrick admitted allowing premises to be used in the supply of class A drugs.
In a letter to the sentencing judge, His Honour Richard Archer, Doyle apologised for his offending.
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He wrote: “I now realise the realise the damage drugs do and the serious consequences I caused to the Cumbria community.”
Having become involved after building up a drug debt, Doyle added: “This caused a vicious cycle in which I was trapped and saw no way out apart from doing what I was told.”
Mark Shepherd, for Hughes-O’Brien, said his client had been remanded in custody awaiting sentence for two years, two months.
His adolescence and early adulthood had been blighted by drugs misuse, and he was resigned to a lengthy jail term.
Mr Shepherd said: "This was a monumental misjudgement to offend in the way that he did. There is hope for the future.”
Ian Whitehurst, for Jameson, spoke of his troubles at the time of the conspiracy, saying: “He was addicted. He was a drug addict and a gambling addict.”
He added: “He was very close to losing control completely.”
During the last two years Jameson had conquered both addictions. Mr Whitehurst said: “He has no one to blame apart from himself for getting himself into this position.”
Family members had travelled to court to support Jameson. The barrister said: "It has had a devastating impact on them. They believed they had done everything right to bring their son up."
Some £77,000 had passed through Jameson’s bank account in a matter of months. Some was drugs money, Mr Whitehurst conceded, some was the proceeds of ticket-touting and some from legitimate income.
Doyle was jailed for 10 years and one month, Hughes-O’Brien received a seven-year prison sentence and Jameson was locked up for four years, 10 months.
Postlethwaite and Pullin were each jailed for three-and-a-half years; Jackson had a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years; and Kirkpatrick’s 24-week jail term was suspended for 18 months.
Jackson and Kirkpatrick, now of Newby Bridge, near Windermere, must each complete 100 hours’ unpaid work; and she was also given two rehabilitation requirements — one for six months to specifically tackle drugs misuse.
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