A DRUG dealing pair have been jailed after conspiring to conceal criminal property.

Darren Jones and Aaron Rourke were convicted of trying to hide cars, motorbikes and garage equipment gained through criminal means.

The duo, aged 29 and 32 respectively, were also locked up for their role in supplying class A drugs.

The defendants appeared before Chester Crown Court to be sentenced earlier this month after pleading guilty to possession of a class A drug with intent to supply.

They also fell to be sentenced after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess criminal property, conspiracy to conceal criminal property and possessing criminal property.

The court heard how Jones and Rourke, both of Warrington, were caught by police on December 16 last year in possession of a quantity of cocaine.

They were also found to be in possession of criminal property in £152.10 in cash.

Further police investigations found they had conspired together to possess criminal property, namely cash, between that same December day and July 1, more than five months prior.

Darren Jones and Aaron Rourke were jailed at Chester Crown Court

Darren Jones and Aaron Rourke were jailed at Chester Crown Court

It was also deemed that they conspired together to conceal criminal property, namely cars, motorbikes and garage equipment between the same dates.

Jones, of Clifton Street in Latchford, and Rourke, of Davenport Avenue in Westy, appeared before judge Steven Everett last Tuesday, July 19, where they were both jailed for 45 months.

No stranger to the courts recently, Jones was locked up for more than six years in June at the same court for his role in a ‘commercial, well-established drugs supply operation’.

The dealer tried to dispose of a rucksack containing evidence by throwing it into the Mersey on one of three occasions he was stopped by police.

An officer swam out to recover it and inside there was cash, cannabis and cocaine, totalling between £1,690 and £3,990.

Before jailing Jones for 81 months last month for supplying ‘evil’ drugs, judge Everett said: “People need to understand that these drugs blight people’s lives.

“They are probably responsible for more than half the crime committed in this country, excluding motoring offences.”