[T]he hard work of officers and staff at Cumbria Constabulary has resulted in criminals racking up a collective prison sentence of over 300 years during the past year for drug supply offences.
The sentences that have been issued to criminals range from organisational levels, within organised crime groups, to dealers and couriers working on behalf of a much larger operation.
This week Cumbria Police are running a campaign that is aiming to raise awareness of the issues of drug supply and the associated crimes within communities. The campaign is focusing on ‘county lines’ drug supply which is where organised crime groups operate in an area that they don’t reside in. They exploit local vulnerable persons and those that are indebted to them to carry out orders placing the risk of capture on them.
DCI David Stalker said: “Cumbria is often targeted by criminal gangs from Merseyside or Greater Manchester to establish control over a local drug market. There are a number of reasons for this and one of them may be the belief that we may be perceived as a soft touch. This could not be further from the truth as our operations and investigation have led to scores of criminals being brought to justice.
“I can reassure the public that we will not be complacent and we look to continue to clean up our communities by targeting, and applying pressure, to those who look to supply controlled drugs in Cumbria.
“The public have a big part to play in this as their information can be vital. If you have any information on drug dealing within Cumbria we would love to hear from you. Drug dealing, even at a street-level, is often part of a chain of events that can lead to further serious-level criminality occurring.”
Cumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner Peter McCall said: “I can only reiterate DCI Stalker’s plea for anyone with any information on drug dealing to come forward. Information is key to success and I ask that we all work together to stamp this out in our county, and help protect those who may be exploited.
“I welcome the fact that through the hard work of police officers and staff, perpetrators of drug offences are being brought to justice and hope that this sends a powerful message to drug dealers that there is no place for them in Cumbria.”
Names and sentence lengths of ten of the significant sentences:
- Ryan Doforo – 14 years 6 months
- Patrick White – 13 years
- Mark Bostock – 10 years 8 months
- Kevin Laidlaw – 10 years 4 months
- Kevin Thompson – 8 years
- Lee Jamieson – 7 years 6 months
- Jonathan O’Neil – 7 years 6 months
- Barrie Pattie – 7 years 4 months
- Amanda Ashley – 7 years
- Sarah Sayle – 7 years
Anyone with information on drug supply is asked to contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
For more information on how Cumbria Constabulary clean up communities by tackling drug supply please visit: www.cumbria.police.uk/Advice-Centre/Personal-Safety/Campaigns/Cleaning-up-communities.aspx.
For further information on drugs please visit www.talktofrank.com.
