A CARLISLE criminal is facing a seven-year prison stretch for involvement in a “county lines” class A drugs supply plot.
Peter Raymond Kenney, 48, had gone on trial at the city’s crown court. He denied conspiracy to supply illicit substances over the course of several days in May this year.
But after hearing all evidence – and deliberating for less than an hour – a jury this afternoon (WED) found Kenney guilty, unanimously, of the crime.
Jurors had been told of his 178 previous criminal offences. They also heard his latest criminal conduct emerged after a 16-year-old London boy was arrested upon leaving Kenney’s Eldon Drive home in Carlisle on May 22. The young “foot soldier” had more than £1,400 cash in his rucksack. Phone evidence showed he had travelled to Carlisle from the south of England six days earlier, and he admitted being involved in an operation to supply heroin and crack cocaine.
That same phone analysis linked Kenney with the conspiracy.
Prosecutor Brendan Burke told jurors of a “county lines” drugs supply plot which was “controlled by London gangsters” and targeted north Cumbrian addicts.
Kenney was said to have two previous class A drugs trafficking convictions to his name, meaning he now faces a minimum seven-year prison term. He will be sentenced together with the youth on November 12, and was remanded in custody until then.
Judge Peter Davies told Kenney: “You are in a very serious position. There will be a significant custodial sentence.”
