Ringleaders of county lines gang 'caused misery' with ruthless dealing

THE ringleaders of a county lines gang who supplied Derbyshire streets with heroin, crack cocaine and other drugs have been jailed for a combined total of more than 15 years.

- By TELEGRAPH REPORTER

Gang members stored drugs before exploiting children across Amber Valley by using them as 'runners' to supply the illegal substances and collecting cash from them.

The criminal operation was orchestrated from prison by Anthony Brown who used mobile phones to arrange for the drugs to be bought and dealt on the outside.

Another gang member, Samuel Silvester, was identified as being responsible for directing and controlling the drug operation out in the community.

Lori Westcott and Jamie McKinley collected drugs from upstream suppliers and gave them to children 'runners' to deal.

The gang used two mobile phone numbers in order to advertise the sale of illegal substances, for which users would reply to and then arrange to collect the drugs.

But their criminal operation was brought to an end by a team of officers in Derbyshire police's Criminal Exploitation Team as part of Operation Beachside.

It revealed the gang used a taxi to transport a child around the region as part of their drug-dealing enterprise.