Leaders of a gang of drug dealers who smuggled almost £1.5m of heroin and cocaine into Cornwall and Devon, often posing as holidaymakers and sometimes using camper vans as cover, have been given long jail terms.
The main players in the conspiracy were a tight-knit group of family and friends mostly based in Merseyside who used local people in the south-west to help store and distribute the drugs.
Their operation was so lucrative that some gang members could afford to spend months at a time in Ibiza, living in high-end hotels.
Unusually, even those higher up in the gang hierarchy would travel to Cornwall and Devon to oversee the operation. Detectives believe the group struggled to trust outsiders so chose to do some of the dirty work itself. It is also unusual for one criminal group to work so extensively across a region.
Places the gang targeted included the Devon towns of Exeter, Exmouth, Dawlish and Teignmouth. They also worked in Penzance, Falmouth, Helston, Hayle, Cambourne and Bodmin in Cornwall. The gang did not operate in Plymouth, the biggest city in the two counties, as they did not want to tread on the toes of other groups working there.
The gang spent thousands of pounds on hiring cars and camper vans. They also stayed alongside real holidaymakers in tourist hotels, Airbnbs and resorts such as the Lizard Point holiday park.
Among the leaders of the conspiracy was 25-year-old Benjamin Burns, of Prescot, Merseyside, who was referred to as Top Boy. He was jailed at Exeter crown court for 10 years and six months after admitting conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin.
Thomas Keating, 43, of Huyton, Liverpool, his son, Christy Keating, 24, of Widnes, Cheshire, and another family member, Georgie Keating, 24, from Huyton, were convicted of the same offence and jailed for 10 years, 10 years and five months and 11 years and five months respectively.
Jamie Marshall, 22, of Penge, south London, who is in prison for the murder of 17-year-old Michael Jonas, who was stabbed to death in a London park because he was considered a “snitch”, also admitted conspiracy and was jailed for six years.
Another defendant claimed he hired a camper van for a holiday but Judge Richardson said: “He knew the purpose of the trip, it was not for lying on the beach.”
In all, 21 defendants from the north-west of England, London, Devon and Cornwall were convicted over the plot.
Devon and Cornwall police’s serious and organised crime branch spent months tracking the gang, piecing together their 15-month operation by tracing mobile phones and carrying out surveillance. As well as the drugs they seized £30,000 of cash.
