Members of Long Haired Luke 2 heroin and crack gang jailed

A total of 14 members of the Long Haired Luke 2 ring were locked up at Liverpool Crown Court today, Thursday.

The organised crime group was responsible for peddling between 1.7kg and 3.5kg of the class A drugs – illicit substances worth up to an estimated £356,000 – on the streets of Warrington over the course of five months during 2021.

Based in Salford, the operation first emerged in February last year but quickly became the most lucrative heroin and crack cocaine dealing gang in the town.

Members took over address across the borough and used graft phones in order to send ‘flare’ texts to users, alerting them to the availability of drugs.

One such message, circulated to 79 customers, read: “Long Haired Luke back on 24/7, all day and all night every day – the fattest and best stuff in Warrington.”

A total of 16,094 flare text messages were sent out by the OCG during the period of the conspiracy.

Gang safehouses were located on Longshaw Street in Bewsey, Gough Avenue in Longford, Pickmere Street in Sankey Bridges, Gregory Close and Cavendish Close in Old Hall and Cumberland Street and Kingsway South in Latchford.

Long Haired Luke 2 was one of 11 county lines gangs brought down in summer last year when Cheshire Police raided 28 addresses across the north west following the covert investigation codenamed Operation Spartans.

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In total, 42 men and women were charged and convicted of drugs offences in connection with the investigation.

The remaining defendants will be sentenced at a later date.

The 14 sentences handed down today:

• Alex Brady, 21, of Salford – jailed for four years and eight months

• Des Challoner, 20, of Manchester – jailed for four years and eight months

• Mason Clemans, 19, of Salford – jailed for seven years

• Jayden Clifford, 18, of Manchester – received a 10-month imprisonment suspended for 18 months

• Antony Cragg, 32, of Longshaw Street in Bewsey – jailed for three years and seven months

• Keelan Emery, 22, of Salford – jailed for six years and eight months

• William Ferguson, 40, of Salford – jailed for five years

• Mark Ingle, 45, of Longshaw Street in Bewsey – jailed for two years and eight months

• Daniel Kilcourse, 23, of Salford – jailed for three years and four months

• Courtney Moss, 25, of Salford – jailed for three years and four months

• Saje Nearon, 42, of Birmingham – jailed for two years and eight months

• Johnathan Newns, 21, of Salford – jailed for three years and four months

• Robert Spakouskas, 44, of Brook Drive in Great Sankey – jailed for five years and five months

• Craig Williams, 20, of Salford – jailed for six years and eight months

All admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine during an earlier hearing - other than Clifford, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis.

Their combined jail terms totalled 59 years and 10 months.

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Sentencing, Recorder Andrew Menary said: "These offences were exposed by clever detective work by officers of Cheshire Police, who identified that all of you were actively involved in the operation of county lines drug trafficking.

"The operators of these particular conspiracies moved significant quantities of drugs from Manchester to Warrington, where they were dealt to drug users.

"It was plainly a very successful operation, trading 24 hours a day.

"This enterprise operated a network of seven safehouses in the Warrington area used as a base to direct operations and to store drugs and money.

"I've no doubt some of these were acquired as a result of cuckooing, where the homes of users were taken over by those running the operation.

"On any view, this was trading on a commercial scale.

"This was county lines trafficking which involves a degree of sophistication street dealing does not contain.

"Each of you has been part of a conspiracy, a wider course of criminal activity."

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Fifteenth Long Haired Luke 2 member Joshua McDougall – who was caught with a machete hidden in his trousers when dealing in the Old Hall area – was previous jailed for two years and three months in September.

The 20-year-old, from Salford, pleaded guilty to possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply.