County lines drug dealers jailed after supplying Welsh town with crack cocaine and heroin

Devonn Weston, from Jackson Street, Oldbury, and Blake Sharpe, from Shrubbery Avenue, Tipton, both 23, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs at Birmingham Crown Court.

Weston and Sharpe ran several drug lines, supplying the narcotics as far as Nuneaton, Tamworth and Llandrindod Wells in Wales.

Weston was sentenced to six years and eight months, while Sharpe was handed a jail term of six years.

In analysed phone calls, text messages and CCTV gathered by the force, text messages sent out from the dealers drug lines used coded terms to confirm the sale of crack cocaine and heroin. Police said they used coded names like the 'Nunny' line and the 'Alex' line.

Examination of messages showed Sharpe actively trying to recruit young people to 'go out of town' and be involved with drug dealing, the court heard.

A spokesperson from the force said: "We charged both men with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. Weston and Sharpe both pleaded guilty to the charge when they appeared at Birmingham Crown Court."

The pair also maintained multiple drug 'lines' passing orders down to exploited individuals in an attempt to distance themselves and minimise their chance of arrest, the court was told.

The court heard the duo exploited "vulnerable" individuals before cuckooing, taking over the home for illegal purposes, their addresses and forcing them to be at their beck and call.

Police stopped Weston as he was driving on July 14, following the arrest a warrant was issued for an address in Tamworth, where class A drugs, cash and scales were found. Shortly after that Sharpe handed himself into police.

Chief inspector Tom Hadley, from West Midlands Police Force CID, said: "County lines drug dealers ruin lives and our officers from the Regional County Lines Taskforce worked hard to stop Weston and Sharpe and bought them to justice.

"County lines gangs should know they are in our sights and our work goes on 24/7 throughout the year to stop them and get them off our streets."