Jailed drug dealing gang met couriers in the Vale of Belvoir

Eight men and a woman admitted charges relating to supplying Class A drugs when they appeared at Lincoln Crown Court.

They included 22-year-old Lewis Peters, of Cox Drive, Bottesford, who was jailed for nine years for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

The court heard that Peters sought to hide his activities by using £20,000 in cash to buy ‘top-end’ lease cars.

The gang were involved in distributing heroin and cocaine worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to the streets of Grantham and Boston.

During the police operation, led by the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, around 1kg of high-purity Class A drugs were recovered between September and December last year. This was in addition to a significant quantity of cannabis and around £20,000 in cash.

Jermain Alcide (37), who was sentenced to more than 16 years, arranged for the drugs to be sourced through his father, Wade Walker, who operated from several addresses in Coventry in an effort to disguise his activities, the court was told.

A spokesperson for Lincolnshire Police said: “Alcide was based in Grantham and he used Craig Haynes, James Evans, Darren Burden and Martin Hart to transport drugs there from Coventry.

“Burden and Hart also acted as Alcide’s trusted lieutenants inGrantham and would often meet other couriers in a rural location, near the village of Redmile, after they had been to Coventry.”

Once the drugs arrived in Grantham they were distributed in the East Midlands, including in Boston. Here, they were supplied by Lewis Peters and Clinton Haw.

All pleaded guilty to their charges while Alcide admitted his crime on the fourth day of his trial.

Det Insp Paul McMahon said: “These men regularly transported heroin and cocaine from the West Midlands to be sold on the streets of Boston and Grantham with no regard to the damage it brought to our communities.

“These convictions are a direct result of the professionalism and dedication of the officers and staff from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit and Lincolnshire Police, working together to stop this organised group from operating in Lincolnshire.”

Aside from Peters and Alcide, gang members received the following jail terms – Clinton Haw (23) nine years, Wade Walker (58) 14 years and 10 months, Darren Burden (29) 11 years and three months, Martin Hart (35) seven years and six months, James Evans (55) three years and nine months, Craig Haynes (30) six years, Bobby Jane Pritchett (22) two years and four months (concerned in the supply of Class A drugs).