Two Liverpool drug dealers were caught by police after one of them was stabbed in the bottom.
Connor Wallace, of Richmond Park, Anfield, was involved in a County Lines operation nicknamed Scouse J, that ran between Liverpool and Hull. The operation came crumbling down when Wallace, 25, went to hospital after being stabbed.
Wallace gave details of his drug-linked telephone number to Hull Royal Infirmary after the stabbing, before heading back to Liverpool. However Wallace was stopped by police on his way home and officers found he had a holdall containing £7,640 cash and a dealer list on his phone.
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Hull Crown Court heard Wallace and Ben Blease, 32, from Walton, controlled street deals in Hull, particularly in Bransholme, through the Scouse J telephone line. Both Liverpool men admitted being concerned in supplying heroin and crack cocaine and possessing criminal property, Hull Live reports.
Blease had control of the drugs line between August 19 last year and January 22 and sent out bulk marketing text messages over the sale of heroin and crack cocaine. His involvement in criminal property was £1,460 cash. Cathy Kioko-Gilligan, prosecuting, said that Wallace was involved throughout the period between October 2020 and January this year.
The operation was busted when Wallace was arrested in Rawcliffe while he was heading back to Liverpool after being treated in hospital for stab wounds. Wallace had convictions for six previous offences, including being jailed at Hull Crown Court in June 2017 for two years and eight months for possessing drugs with intent to supply.
His convictions also included possessing an offensive weapon and racially aggravated harassment. Blease had convictions for two previous offences but nothing for drugs.
Steven Garth, mitigating, said that Wallace became a drug addict in his late teens. He served time in jail and after being released in May 2019 from the 2017 sentence, his "troubles simply started again" because he still owed a substantial drug debt.
Michael Forrest, representing Blease, said that the defendant was involved for a lesser period of time but operated the phone line for about six months as a "drone" because someone else was commanding it. It was an operational or management function within a chain.
Judge John Thackray QC said: "You are both well familiar with the devastation caused by the use and supply of Class A drugs in our communities." Wallace, of Richmond Park, Anfield, was jailed for eight years. Blease, of Pirrie Road, Walton, was locked up for five years.
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