Brighton drugs gang jailed

Ten people have been sentenced for their roles in a Brighton drugs gang.

The ten men and women ran drugs between Liverpool and Brighton or laundered cash for the gang.

They included Tyler Boarer, 22, of Downland Court, Portslade, who Sussex Police said was “the criminal connection between the main drug dealers in Liverpool to Brighton”.

He was jailed for eight years at Hove Crown Court yesterday (Friday 14 November).

Boarer pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply heroin and cocaine for which he was given seven and a half years. He was given a further six months for biting one of the police officers who was trying to arrest him.

The runners in the drugs ring, John Dykes, Shawn Dempsey and William Hardaker were also sentenced at Hove Crown Court yesterday. They all admitted conspiring to supply crack cocaine and heroin.

Dempsey, 21, of Queen’s Mews, Liverpool, was jailed for four and a half years. Dykes, 20, of Goodwood Street, Liverpool, was given four years.

Hardaker, 22, of Knocklaid Road, Liverpool, was given a two-year sentence suspended for two years.

Yasmine Wheeler, 33, of Hallett Road, Brighton, pleaded guilty to money laundering and was given four months suspended for four months and an eight-month suspended sentence for the production of cannabis.

Giuseppe Baker, 18, of Romsey Close, Brighton, pleaded guilty to supplying class A drugs and was given an 18-month suspended sentence.

He was also given six months for common assault and causing alarm or distress after using racially aggravated language.

Four women were sentenced for their part in the gang at Hove Crown Court on Thursday (13 November).

Nikki Calladine, 20, of Albion Hill, Brighton, was in a relationship with one of the main dealers and main players in the drugs ring, Kirk Blake.

She was convicted of conspiring to supply class A drugs and sentenced to two years in prison suspended for two years.

The three other women were sentenced for money laundering.

They were Lauren Healey, 28, of Ancaster Road, Liverpool, Stephanie Blair, 34, of Dawber Close, Liverpool, and Carly Williams, 19, of Ince Avenue, Liverpool.

Healey was given four months suspended for a year, Blair was also given four months also suspended for a year and Williams was given three months suspended for a year.

Kirk Blake, 25, from Ermine Crescent, Liverpool, and his co-conspirator Kevin Tynan, 36, of the same address in Liverpool, are due to be sentenced on Monday 1 December.

They have both admitted conspiring to supply class A drugs – heroin and crack cocaine.

Detective Sergeant Julian Deans, who ran the police operation into cracking the drugs ring between Liverpool and Brighton, said: “Judge Rennie sentenced Boarer to a total of eight years imprisonment for his role within the operation.

“These lengthy sentences show the gravity and seriousness that drug dealing is seen within our county.

“This operation, named Operation Woburn, was a led by the Organised Crime Investigation Team at Brighton and ran for nearly a year.

“It focused entirely on a one man, Kevin Tynan, from Liverpool, and his dealing network.

“He and all his criminal connections have all pleaded guilty to their offences.

“Boarer, Dempsey and Dykes were runners for the group and supplied crack and heroin on the streets of Brighton and Hove.

“We’ve worked hard with our colleagues in Merseyside Police to track down this group and arrest them.

“This group have brought thousands of pounds worth of class A drugs into our city and we will not just stand by and allow this to take place.

“The end product of this – to echo the judge’s words – ‘filthy business’ is people dying.

“I have the task of investigating those drugs-related deaths.

“I am the one having to tell mothers and fathers that their son or daughter is dead.

“As such this merely doubles my resolve to hunt down and arrest every dealer that we can find.

“If you are dealing drugs in this city, then you need to know that we will catch you and will deal with you robustly.”