Suspected mastermind of huge Midland heroin ring 'had 26 dirty phones'

It is alleged the phones traced to Michael Porter were ditched in succession so drug transactions or calls to arrested drug couriers could not be linked to him.

Porter, 30, of Adey Road, Wolverhampton, has pleaded not guilty at Warwick Crown Court to two charges of conspiring to supply heroin and two of conspiring to supply crack cocaine.

Porter has also denied conspiring to pervert the course of justice, conspiring to launder criminal property, possessing a prohibited item, a phone, in jail, assault, false imprisonment and making a threat to kill.

He is alleged to have been behind the drug conspiracies, which involved drug couriers and 'runners' making more than 100 trips from Wolverhampton to Stratford and Kidderminster.

With him are Luke Allen, 21, of Cole Street, Netherton, and Bakary Dibba, 26, of St Michaels Road, Bournemouth, who deny conspiring to supply heroin and crack in Stratford, and Mark Gomersall, 37, whose address cannot be given, who has denied being involved in the Kidderminster conspiracy and false imprisonment.

A number of other people from Wolverhampton and the Stratford area have pleaded guilty to various charges they faced in relation to the supply of drugs and will be sentenced later.

Prosecutor Philip Bradley told the jury: "Investigators rarely find direct evidence that implicates people in a conspiracy – and the existence of a written contract is obviously a no-no.

"So it is necessary to look at a number of different strands of evidence to draw reasonable inferences from them; and the first of those is phone evidence."

As the jury began to hear evidence about the use of various phones in the case, he said they could be linked to the movement of cars tracked by ANPR cameras and police surveillance of Allen and others 'going about their drugs business.'

Referring to a colour-coded chart, Mr Bradley the court: "There is no dispute that the phones shown, with the exception of the first two, were used in a drug conspiracy.

"The issue in Mr Porter's case is whether or not he was using those phones at the time.

"He's saying 'prove they're mine.' So we will go through what attributes a particular phone to him."

Mr Bradley said cell-site analysis showed dirty phones were regularly being bounced off the same phone mast around the same time as Porter's long-term phone was using the same mast.

Each of the phones recovered shared 48 identical contact numbers and were in contact with 32 numbers listed in a phone recovered from Porter when he was arrested on June 13. The trial continues.