THREE people, including a pregnant woman, have been found guilty of involvement in a massive county lines class A drugs supply conspiracy.
Carlisle duo Sharnee Dawkins, aged 29, and Daniel Brennan, 32, along with 19-year-old James Bailey, of Skelmersdale, all denied being part of a large-scale plot to bring heroin and crack cocaine from Liverpool to Cumbria for supply to addicts.
But after a trial at Carlisle Crown Court lasting more than a fortnight, Bailey and Brennan were today (THURS) each convicted, unanimously, of conspiracy to supply the substances, while Dawkins was found guilty of that charge on a majority verdict.
Jurors had previously been told that 13 other people – nine from Cumbria and four based in the Merseyside area – had already admitted that charge.
They had heard how Cumbria residents had assisted Liverpool gang members during an illegal enterprise which ran between June and November last year by sub-dealing, and allowing addresses to be used as bases from which illegal substances could be packaged and supplied.
Fifteen of the 16 defendants are set to be sentenced at the crown court in early June. They include Brennan, previously of Woodside North in Carlisle, and Bailey, both of whom were remanded in custody until then.
Mother-to-be Dawkins, previously of Crummock Street in Carlisle, was granted bail by Judge Peter Davies, who heard she was due to give birth at around the time of that sentencing hearing. She is instead due to receive her punishment later in December, when the judge will also consider a medical update.
But Judge Davies told Dawkins: “You are in a very serious position. You have to understand that, unborn child or not.”
