Drugs gang jailed for more than 50 years in total

It comes as a man and three women were in the dock at Stafford Crown Court today for their part in the conspiracy, which saw dealers supply drugs into an area from Staffordshire to the Welsh border.

The group, which was led by the three Saeed brothers from Wolverhampton – 39-year-old Abdul, of Dunstall Road, 44-year-old Mohammed of Summerfield Road, and 47-year-old Shabaz, of Dunstall Road – was jailed for a total of more than 50 years over the two-day sentencing.

A total of eight men and a woman were jailed for their part in the conspiracy yesterday, while two other men were given community work for possession of Class A drugs at an earlier hearing and two more men are due to be sentenced next year.

The scale of the operation meant that the case took almost five years to build from initial arrests and involved huge amounts of data including the analysis of 132 mobile phones which had been seized.

Officers also seized cocaine with a street value of more than £200,000 and £40,000 in cash.

The court heard that warrants were initially executed in July 2013 at the addresses of Sandy McInnes, and Emily and Charlotte Adams in Cannock. Cocaine was recovered and arrests made.

On December 5, 2013 officers watched an exchange take place in Orbital Way, Cannock, between Stephen Coldrick and Sonny Barham. Coldrick, a qualified accountant, was arrested on the Wolverhampton Road shortly afterwards with £6,000 of cocaine in the car he was driving, which was licensed to Shabaz Saeed.

Then on December 29, 2013, Sandy McInnes and Richard Smallman were arrested after they ran away from a blue Fiat Punto in Chadsmoor, Cannock. Cocaine was found and documents linking the group.

Officers stopped an Alfa Romeo on January 17, 2014, in Beau Court, Cannock. Martin Lloyd, Benjamin Brown, Shane Girvan and Robert Jones were in the car and cash and cocaine was seized.

Abdul, Mohammed and Shabaz were jailed for six years and two months, six years and four months and nine years and three months respectively.

Coldrick, of Evans Street, Wolverhampton, was handed seven years in prison for conspiracy to supply drugs, McInnes was given seven years and two months for the same charge and Emily Adams was handed three years and four months.

Barham, of Weston Drive, Walsall, was handed 30 months in prison for conspiracy to supply drugs, and both Martin Lloyd, 27, of Central Avenue, Cannock, and Craig Hartshorne, 31, of Stafford Road, Cannock, were handed 22 months for the same charge, as Lloyd has already served three years and Hartshorne has served four years for the same offence

Smallman, 31, of Beau Court, Hednesford Road, Cannock, was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison yesterday, while Charlotte Adams, 29, of Cannock, and Tina Hall-McInnes, 36, of Brooklands Road, Cannock, were both sentenced to 20 months, suspended for two years and ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work.

Kylie McGowan, 33, of no fixed address, was sentenced to 18 months, suspended for two years and ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work.

Benjamin Brown, 34, of Wolverhampton Road, Cannock, and Nathan Davis, 28, of Bradbury Lane, Hednesford, will be sentenced in March after entering guilty pleas.

Shane Girvan, 32, of Rigby Drive, Cannock, and Robert Jones, 26, of Buttermere Close, Cannock, were each given 40 hours' community service for possession of cocaine.

All pleaded guilty at earlier hearings, except three men – Richard Smallman, Shabaz Saeed and Stephen Coldrick – who were found guilty following trials.

The criminal activity took place between January 1, 2013 and January 1, 2015.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Bentley, of Staffordshire Police, said: “This was an exceptionally challenging and complex case to build. The volume of material was exceptional and I’d like to commend my officers for their attention to detail and tenacity in bringing this case before the courts.

“Despite the complexity and challenges such cases bring we hope these sentences deliver a clear message: We will bring those who deal drugs and spread misery in our communities to justice.”