Brighton drugs gang jailed

Five members of a Brighton drugs gang were jailed at Hove Crown Court today (Wednesday 13 March).

They were sentenced after a two-week trial in which another man was acquitted of conspiring with them to supply heroin.
The five men, who are all unemployed, are:

• Ian Edwards, 29, of Haywards Road, Patcham, but originally from Liverpool, was convicted on Monday (11 March) and jailed for 13 years.
• Paul Croston, 24, of Cashman Lodge in Crabtree Avenue, Hollingbury, but also originally from Liverpool, pleaded guilty and was jailed for eight years.
• Gary Ord, 33, of Merevale, Hollingdean, pleaded guilty and was jailed for four years.
• David Fitzsimmons, 46, of Phoenix Rise, Hanover, pleaded guilty and was jailed for six years.
• Stephen Radcliffe, 44, of Guildford Avenue, Bootle, Merseyside, was found guilty and jailed for seven years.
• John Smith, 36, who is also unemployed, of Croylands Street, Kirkdale, Merseyside, was found not guilty.

The five men who were jailed were arrested after an operation involving officers from Sussex Police and Merseyside Police from September 2011 and February 2012.

Detective Inspector Julie Wakeford, who leads Operation Reduction, a long-running operation to tackle drugs supply in Brighton and Hove, said: “This is a significant result for the fight against drugs coming into the city.

“A big part of Op Reduction is to target the main players and disrupt the flow of drugs, which has been supported by today’s guilty convictions and a kilo and a half of drugs with a street value of around £150,000 being taken off the streets.

“The investigation into this particular group lasted for several months and involved plain-clothed officers monitoring the group.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the officers from the Merseyside Matrix Units, for their assistance with this investigation.

“When tackling organised drug groups it’s essential to share information with other forces and Merseyside played an important part in bringing all five defendants to justice.”

The court heard that on Friday 30 December 2011 Paul Croston was arrested as he came away from a drugs hide.

Heroin worth approximately £40,000 was hidden there in shrubbery on wasteland at the rear of Ladies Mile Road in Patcham.

Officers had taken the heroin and substituted it with a mixture of coffee and Coffeemate and then watched as Croston came back to pick up the drugs.
A week later, on Friday 6 January 2012, David Fitzsimmons and Gary Ord were ordered to go to Liverpool by Ian Edwards.

He was communicating with them from his prison cell using an illegal mobile phone.

They travelled to Liverpool in a hire car to the home of Stephen Radcliffe. They picked him up and then drove to a pub forecourt in Kirkdale where it is suspected that a kilogram of suspected heroin was supplied to them.

After Fitzsimmons and Ord had dropped off Radcliffe, the pair travelled back to Sussex where their car was stopped by Sussex officers just outside Brighton.
A kilogram of what later turned out to be paracetamol and caffeine mix – cutting agents used in the supply of heroin – were found under the rear seat.

Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Richardson, from Merseyside Police’s Matrix Team said: “We work with partners in different forces across the country to share information and best practice.

“We want those people involved in criminality to know we will work together regardless of force boundaries to bring you to justice.

“We share a common goal. We want those people who blight our local communities, by supplying drugs, off our streets and we will work together to achieve this.”