Members of crack cocaine and heroin gang to pay back…

Members of crack cocaine and heroin gang to pay back fraction of £35k profit

Four members of a gang who attempted to move hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of drugs from Merseyside to North Wales will pay back just a fraction of their profit.

In March this year, 16 people were jailed for smuggling crack cocaine and heroin from Liverpool to Wrexham as they wreaked "misery" across communities, a judge said at the time. Seven were jailed for more than 64 years in prison and a further nine received a total of almost 130 years in prison for their part in the plot.

The arrests and eventual sentencing came as a result of North Wales Police's biggest ever operations, Operation Lancelot, which discovered a network of messages which revealed the group's illegal activity in Wrexham. The covert surveillance helped build a case against the drug gang who were found to have been involved in a plot to bring almost £750,000 worth of drugs into North Wales, North Wales Live reports.

Yesterday, four of the gang members were ordered to repay some of the proceeds of their crimes, which totalled more than £35,000 at Caernarfon Crown Court.

Zoe Platt, 29, of Grango Lane, Ponciau, was previously sentenced to nine years imprisonment for conspiring to supply heroin and crack cocaine from April to October 2020. At the hearing, the court heard Platt had made £10,201.10 as a result of her crime.

Zoe Platt, 29, of Grango Lane, Ponciau (North Wales Police)

Despite the benefit amount of more than £10,000, Platt was ordered to pay a nominal cost of £1, which was not to be collected. A nominal order can be made for a range of reasons, including that the defendant has repaid or returned the full extent of the benefit or that there are no identifiable assets.

Kim Michelle Williams, 48, of no fixed address, was jailed for eight years and three months for her role in the plot. The court heard that Williams' benefit amount stood at £10,312, of which she was ordered to pay back £105.

James William Royce, 30, of Portal Avenue, Wrexham (North Wales Police)

James Royce, 30, of Portal Avenue, Wrexham, previously jailed for six years and nine months, had a benefit amount £7,351.17 and was ordered to repay £796.10. Meanwhile, Sean Skimmings, 31, of Hoole Road, Chester, who received the same sentence as Royce, was found to have had a benefit amount of £7,207.01 and was ordered to pay £394.12.

The four defendants were ordered to pay a total of £1,296.22 from the profit which added up to £35,071.28. Her Honour Nicola Saffman also ordered for the forfeiture, destruction or depravation of the items seized by police.