Cocaine plotters jailed for total of almost 50 years as judge blasts 'mean, cruel' ringleader

16 YEARS FOR MAN WHO'D 'THROWN HIS FAMILY UNDER THE BUS'

- By DAVID POWELL Daily Post Reporter

Lee Rigby was jailed for sixteen years and three months for conspiring to supply class A drugs Pictured (clockwise from top left) are Mark Rob, Stephen Lewis, Adam Hill and Frank Jones

A judge yesterday branded a gang who plotted to flood North Wales with cocaine a "shambles" as she jailed some members for a total of almost 50 years.

She accused ringleader Lee Rigby of being a "mean and cruel bully" who recruited relatives including his son who only wanted to make his dad "proud".

The parent had "thrown his family under the bus".

Rigby senior, a cockle harvester, had presented himself as a legitimate businessman while conspiring to source and supply users with nine kilogrammes of cocaine, as well as ketamine and cannabis, in North Wales.

As reported in yesterday's Daily Post, police used a listening bug in a car and surveillance to crack the ring.

The judge Her Honour Nicola Jones at Caernarfon Crown Court yesterday noted Rigby snr has convictions for violence but also - "somewhat bizarrely" in contrast for cockle poaching for which he had been fined £3,000.

Handing down the sentences, she said: "This is not an organised crime gang.

"It's a shambles led by Mr (Lee) Rigby who is a bully, mean and cruel, who brought his son Wesley, who was 17 or 18 (into it).

"All Wesley wanted to do was make his Dad proud.

"He did it by being the best drug dealer he could be which was all his Dad had ever taught him to do," said the judge, adding that drugs are a blight on North Wales.

She said Lee Rigby has eleven convictions for 15 offences including violence and motoring and "somewhat bizarrely" a conviction for cockle poaching leading to a £3,000 fine.