Drugs dealer is jailed after network is foiled

A 'MANAGER' in a 'county lines' drugs gang which peddled crack cocaine and heroin between Liverpool and Plymouth has been jailed for six years and nine months.

- By JON AUSTIN

Danny Venning

Danny Venning, 39, of Beatrice Avenue, Lipson, Plymouth, was jailed at Portsmouth Crown Court. He was the last member of the gang to be sentenced, after the group was dismantled following a police investigation.

Judge Daniel Sawyer said Venning was a 'trusted manager' of the gang who was 'at the heart of the Plymouth' operation. He was involved in multiple trips to Liverpool and the operation only stopped as a result of his arrest, which he had resisted.

Judge Sawyer said: "The defendant had the drugs phone line on him when he was arrested and was in possession of multi kilos of drugs. He was very trusted and was in contact with three unknown Plymouth contacts."

The gang was taken down after an investigation by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary's Northern Area Serious and Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), with the support of Merseyside Police and Devon and Cornwall Police.

Police found amounts of heroin and crack cocaine at the property upon his arrest. Over the course of the investigation into the entire network, 4kg of drugs and more than £30,000 in cash were physically seized by police, along with a number of weapons.