Drug gang jailed for 80 years

Eight men have been jailed for more a total of more than 80 years after drugs with a street value of up to £100 million were found in a Black Country warehouse.

From a secret Dudley base, the gang was preparing to flood the streets with what police described as 150kg of "phenomenally pure" cocaine thought to have been smuggled into Britain from Holland. Police smashed the conspiracy after months of surveillance to seize the biggest drugs haul ever in the West Midlands.

Around 95kg of cocaine was found at an industrial unit on the Pagnell Industrial Estate in Turner Street, Dudley. A further five kilos was discovered hidden in a Vauxhall Astra van, pulled over by police in Harborne, Birmingham, and 50kg was found in a van stopped on the M6 southbound.

Lee Welsh, of Rowley Regis; Gavin Griffiths, of Rowley Regis; Keith Jeremy, of Sutton Coldfield; Martin Askew, of no fixed address, Dean Letts, of Sheldon; David Loone, of Shirley; Gary Hyland, of Liverpool, and John Pollard, of Nottinghamshire, were given a total of 84 years in prison.

A ninth man Robert Marchant, aged 62, of Newport, Wales, was handed a suspended sentence. Rowley Regis neighbours Welsh and Griffiths had been operating a "sham" courier business called Zorro as a cover. But detectives uncovered the stash after tracing members of the gang back to the base in Dudley.

Judge Robert Griffiths-Jones, sitting at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday, handed the longest sentence of 18 years to Jeremy, pictured, whom he described as the leader of the gang. He said: "The conspiracy was a sophisticated one and at the centre of it was Jeremy." He said Jeremy had enjoyed an "oppulent" lifestyle with expensive houses, cars and tastes from the proceeds of drug dealing.

He told him: "It is not very often there are dealers of your seniority brought before the courts." Letts was described as Jeremy's "right hand man" and distributed the drugs.

Griffiths and Welsh operated the unit in Dudley used as a storage for the drugs. Askew was said to have links on the continent where the drugs are believed to have come from. Pollard was caught transporting drugs to Nottingham while Hyland was said to be a link to the Liverpool drugs world. Loone was told he had laundered money for Jeremy along with Marchant.

Details of all the convicted men, the charges and sentences:

Keith Jeremy, aged 42, of Whitehouse Common Road, Sutton Coldfield, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A, B and C drugs and was given 18 years in jail. He was described in court as the "top dog" of the drugs ring.

Dean Letts, aged 39, of Greenvale Avenue, Sheldon, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs. He was given 13-and-a-half years behind bars and described as Jeremy's "right hand man".

Martin Askew, aged 38, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs and was given 15 years. Askew was described as having "links with the continent" and is believed to have helped import the drugs.

Lee Welsh, aged 30, of Habberley Road, Rowley Regis, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs and was given a jail term of 13-and-a-half-years. He ran a "sham" transport business from Dudley as a cover for distributing the drugs.

Gavin Griffiths, aged 27, of Habberley Road, Rowley Regis, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs and was given 12-and-a-half-years. As Welsh's next door neighbour, he helped operate the "sham" Zorro transport company from Dudley.

David Loone, aged 44, of Cropthorne Road, Shirley, pleaded guilty to possession of criminal property and was handed two years in prison. The court heard he laundered money for Jeremy.

Gary Hyland, aged 33, of Oakhill Road, Liverpool, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class B and C drugs and was given four-and-a-half-years. He was said to be "high up in the wholesale chain."

John Pollard, aged 34, of The Glebe, Cossall, Nottinghamshire, pleaded guilty to concerning himself with the supply of cocaine and was sentenced to five years in prison. He took cocaine to Nottingham from the West Midlands.

Robert Marchant, aged 62, of Hendre Farm Drive, Newport, Wales, pleaded guilty to possession of criminal property and was given a nine month sentence, suspended for one year, and a six-month supervision order. He laundered money for Jeremy without knowing what it was for, the court heard.