A JURY has heard how a schoolboy was deployed by London gangsters as a foot soldier as class A drugs were transported from the south of England to Carlisle.
The 16-year-old, from Croydon, South London, travelled by train to north Cumbria in mid-May as part of a criminal “county lines” supply plot. These conspiracies involve criminals based in big cities directing the supply of illicit substances to addicts in lesser populated areas within different counties through the use of a hub phone and group “text bombs”.
Carlisle Crown Court was told today (TUES) how the 16-year-old was arrested by police in the city on May 22 as he prepared to return south having left the Harraby home of 48-year-old Peter Raymond Kenney.
No drugs were recovered but more than £1,400 cash was found in the teenager’s rucksack. Jurors have heard the teen has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to supply class A drugs over the course of several days in May, and also possessing criminal property – the cash. He admits travelling to Cumbria as part of an operation to supply heroin and crack cocaine.
But Kenney, of Eldon Drive, Carlisle, denies that he was involved in any criminal drugs supply conspiracy.
The trial continues.
