Drug gang jailed for 51 years

A drugs gang has been jailed for a combined total of 51 years for dealing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of cocaine and cannabis in South Staffordshire.

The set-up was described in court as a “commercial business.”

Two men, John Appleton, aged 36, of Locketts Court, Cannock, and Michael O’Mahoney, aged 33, of Avenue Road, Cannock, were the “generals” at the head of the gang which supplied drugs in the town and surrounding areas including Rugeley, Burntwood, Norton Canes and Coven as well as parts of Wolverhampton.

Yesterday the pair, along with nine other members of the network, were jailed after being caught as part of Staffordshire Police’s Operation Nemesis, a major crackdown on drug dealing in the county.

The court heard the gang used a house in Longford Road to dilute the cocaine, ‘cut’ it and press it into block ready for re-sale.

After this address was raided they used the home of Daniel Girvan, aged 22, in Rigby Drive, Cannock, as a factory supplying around £4,000 a day to dealers in the area.

Delivering his verdict on the gang at Stafford Crown Court yesterday Judge John Maxwell said: “This was a conspiracy to supply cocaine on a wholesale level. It is clear to me Appleton and O’Mahoney were the generals and [Joseph] Colley was the lieutenant. The couriers were full-time employees working for the conspiracy with one day a week holiday. It was operating on a commercial basis with a clear organisation and hierarchy.”

He said despite the arrests of some of the couriers, the conspiracy continued.

“This did nothing to deter the organisation from continuing its trade. I do not have any means of valuing the cocaine that passed through their hands but it is clear to me that it was a substantial conspiracy.”

Judge Maxwell said the gang was not involved in selling directly to drug users but he told them their actions fuelled drug crime.

“As a judge sitting regularly in Stafford it is unusual for burglaries not to be drug related. These people commit burglary as their only way to fund their habit, they are miserable, their lives are shattered by drug taking, but they then inflict terrible misery on people who thought they would be safe in their homes.” he said.

“The web of misery from drug taking is obvious to me and is a problem locally in Staffordshire.”

Appleton, was sentenced to 10 years for conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis. For conspiracy to supply cocaine, O’Mahoney was also sentenced to 10 years. David James Joseph Colley, 38, of Raven Close, Huntington, Cannock, received six years.

David John Upton, 28, of East Cannock Road, Hednesford was given a four and a half year jail term. 

Matthew Martin Brown, 20, of Poplar Avenue, Cannock, received four years

Girvan, 22, was locked up for five years as was Shaun Anthony Francis, 46, of Van Gogh Close, Heath Hayes, Cannock. Jamie Maxwell Sleigh, 27, of Bath Road, Cannock was sentenced to four and a half years prison while Shaun Bate, 41, of Mozart Court, Cannock, was given two years for conspiracy to supply cannabis.

For money laundering, Donna Marie Edwards, 24, of Chestnut Close, Heath Hayes received a 12-month community supervision order and Amanda Appleton, 31, of Cumberland Road, Cannock a nine-month suspended prison sentence.

John Appleton, Brown, Colley, O’Mahoney, Francis, Upton, Sleigh and Girvan, had all admitted conspiring to supply cocaine. Appleton and Bate pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply cannabis.

Edwards admitted using criminal property, money, and Amanda Appleton pleaded guilty to possessing criminal property, £27,000 in cash.

Earlier this year, Christopher Alan Dodd, 27, of Sandon Road, Stafford, was sentenced to three and a half years for possession with intent to supply cocaine and Shaun Thomas, 33, of East Street, Cannock, three years for possession with intent to supply cannabis after pleading guilty.