Drug traffickers jailed for total of 24 years
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Dealers Raymond Heather
(right) and his partner Tracey McCarthy were convicted of
conspiracy to supply cocaine
by Keith Hunt
Three men and a woman convicted of involvement in a major drug
trafficking chain centred on a Kent farm have been jailed for a
total of 24 years today.
Ty Ripley, of Fairmeadow Farm, in Bredgar, Sittingbourne, was
sentenced to six-and-a-half years after being found guilty of
assisting in the supply of drugs and possessing Class C drugs with
intent to supply.
Omar Sadique, 29, who supplied the cutting agents to Ripley, 40,
and ran a prolific business on a national scale, was sentenced to
eight years after being convicted of assisting in the supply of
Class A drugs and conspiracy to supply cocaine.
Raymond Heather, 52, who had a caravan in Whitstable, was jailed
for six years and his partner Tracey McCarthy, 50, to
three-and-a-half years after they were convicted of conspiracy to
supply cocaine.
Omar Sadique (left)
supplied chemicals to Ty Ripley
Judge Jeremy Gold QC told Sadique: "You and others have to
understand that the proliferation of these drugs is a cancer in our
society and you have played a prominent part in the supply."
Ripley; Sadique, of Kimberworth, Rotherham, South Yorkshire;
Heather, of Lambeth, south east London; and McCarthy, of
Rotherhithe, south east London, denied the charges.
Steven Franks, 61, of Walton, Essex, and Zakir Hussain, 29, of
Rotherham, South Yorkshire, denied assisting in the supply of
controlled drugs and were cleared.
Andrew Rankin, 53, and his son Stuart Rankin, both of Bethnal
Green, east London, and Lynn Cooper, 48, of Ilford, Essex, denied
conspiracy to supply cocaine and were cleared.
An aerial shot of Ty
Ripley's farm, in Bredgar, which was used to store barrels of
cutting agents and chemicals to bulk out drugs.
Maidstone Crown Court heard Ripley stored chemicals in a clock
tower at the farm and was "at the very hub" of the case as a
regional distributor of cutting agents used to bulk out drugs.
Judge Gold said Ripley was
running a regional distribution centre from his home at the farm
for chemicals used as cutting agents.
"You had substantial quantities
of chemicals in stock when police searched the farm in February
2010," he continued. "You were also an important link in the chain
of supply of Class A and B drugs.
"I very much regret the effect
your imprisonment will have on your children. I have read a number
of references that make it clear there are positive aspects to your
character."
The convictions follow a three-year
investigation by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.
Assistant Chief Constable Gary
Beautridge said: "The defendants worked as a highly-organised
criminal group controlled by Sadique. He may have been the one in
charge but each of these defendants had a part to play in the
supply of Class A drugs in this country through varied, significant
and organised roles.
"During our investigations, a clear
picture emerged of a chain leading from the supply of cutting
agents to the bulking out of high purity drugs and then on to the
supply of controlled drugs themselves."
Tuesday, February 21 2012
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