THREE drug dealers who were part of a cocaine racket worth hundreds of thousands of pounds have been jailed.
Callum Voos, Kyle Kelly and Jordan Read were part of a conspiracy that saw huge amounts of cocaine shipped across the country from Warrington.
This afternoon, Thursday, the trio were jailed for a combined 22 years at Liverpool Crown Court.
Earlier this year, members of Jamie Oldroyd’s drugs gang and a linked organised crime group run by Jamie Simpson – who was caught with £20million during a police sting on the M6 – were jailed for a total of 120 years.
Voos and Kelly, from Birchwood and Cinnamon Brow respectively, were both part of Oldroyd’s gang – stashing cash and drugs on his behalf and trafficking class A substances across the country.
Read meanwhile bought cocaine from this racket in order to sell it in Sussex.
The court heard that 20-year-old Kelly twice couriered cocaine to Scunthorpe in his grey Audi VRM in April and May 2018.
Kyle Kelly
It is believed that he was paid in the region of £800 for each of the trips, which were coordinated by Oldroyd.
Kelly was arrested when police executed a search warrant at his home on Solway Close in Cinnamon Brown in September last year, with dawn raids taking place at a total of 11 properties across the town the same morning – at which point £140,000 worth of class A drugs were seized.
Voos meanwhile was a ‘trusted associate’ of Oldroyd’s and worked alongside Lewis Johnson, who operated a safehouse for the gang on Liverpool Road in Sankey Bridges.
Callum Voos
The 20-year-old, of Strawberry Close in Cinnamon Brow, was seen exchanging packages in the car park of an Asda supermarket in the town and met Kyle at the Liverpool Road safehouse after his second visit to Scunthorpe.
He also stashed ill-gotten cash in his grandma’s house before being arrested on Bonfire Night last year.
Voos and Kelly had earlier been arrested in February 2018 when the latter was driving on Glover Road in Locking Stumps – the former being caught carrying £1,005 in cash.
And in April 2018, Read had travelled to Cadishead from his home in Horsham, Sussex, in a white Renault van in convoy with fellow drug dealer Ryan Quinnell – who was behind the wheel of a VW Golf.
Jordan Read
The pair met Johnson on the car park of the Coach and Horses pub, where it is believed they were sold around two or three kilos of cocaine.
Read and Quinell were arrested during a raid in Sussex in November last year, with 330g of cocaine and cutting agents being found in a storage unit leased by the former.
Voos, who appeared in court via video link to HMP Altcourse, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine last month after a four-week trial.
Kelly and 27-year-old Read admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine, with the latter also pleading guilty to possession of a class A drug with intent to supply.
READ > Why you may have been hearing helicopters this week
READ > Holiday from hell for family in Ibiza
None of the defendants had any previous convictions.
Barrister Martine Snowdon, representing engineer Kelly, told the court: “This is a young man whose fall from grace is tragic.
“He had a promising and bright future – he was a very lucky young man with a close, loving and supportive family.”
The court also heard how Read, dad to a three-year-old girl and newly-married, became involved in dealing drugs after racking up debts in order to feed his cocaine addiction.
Meanwhile, Voos was ‘motivated by financial gain’.
Judge Robert Trevor-Jones jailed Voos for seven years and handed Kelly five years and seven months behind bars.
Meanwhile, Read was imprisoned for a total of nine years and seven months.
Sentencing, judge Trevor Jones said: “Those who involve themselves in the supply of controlled drugs can expect to go to prison.
“Those who involve themselves in the supply of class A drugs can expect substantial periods of imprisonment.
“This conspiracy concerned the large-scale supply of cocaine being distributed from Warrington to a variety of locations nationwide.
“It was well organised and involved large numbers of individuals, playing different roles.”
Twenty-five-year-old Quinnell, of Horley in Surrey, admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and will be sentenced at Lewes Crown Court next Friday, July 12.
These sentences mean that those caged as part of the 14-month covert police investigation codenamed Operation Dreadnought have been jailed for more than 140 years.
Oldroyd, of Rennie Drive in Latchford, was given 14 years and three months behind bars while Simpson, of Delery Drive in Padgate, was imprisoned for 11 years and six months.
Twenty-one-year-old Johnson, of Elizabeth Drive in Padgate, was jailed for nine years.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel