The most influential figures of a drug dealing gang linked to a stash of deadly guns were handed jail sentences amid emotional scenes in court.
Kane Bennett, Christopher Scully, Phillip Ryder and Jamie Mac Thompson were locked up for their roles in a cocaine and heroin network that stretched across England.
All four were said to have once been connected to the notorious Strand Gang, whose antics plagued Liverpool for years.
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The men appeared in Liverpool Crown Court today to learn their fate after a major Merseyside Police investigation brought about their downfall.
Bennett sat at the top of the operation, overseeing Class A drug supply networks in Morecambe, Plymouth and Torquay.
Cocaine and heroin, some of which was supplied to Bennett by Mac Thompson, was sent north and south under Bennett’s guidance as he ran drugs ‘lines’ nicknamed Scouse Tom, Scouse JJ and Scouse T.
Couriers from Morecambe - working on the Scouse Tom line - would be supplied in West Derby Cemetery while others would run illicit substances down to the Scouse JJ and Scouse T lines on the south coast.
Bundles of cash would flow in the other direction, back to Liverpool.
Sentencing the top figures of the gang today, Judge David Potter told them: “The misery of heroin and cocaine causes devastation to the people who take them and to the families who try their best to support them.
“They blight the communities in which addicts live and dealers operate.”
As a packed public gallery watched, several in tears as the hearing unfolded, the judge poignantly added: “Victims of your conduct include your own families, some of whom will be without your support for a considerable period of time.”
The downfall of Bennett’s conspiracies was secured when, in April 2020, a farm on the outskirts of Kirkby was raided by police under Operation Casino II.
The searches that followed led to the discovery of a sawn-off shotgun and a rifle fitted with a telescopic sight.
Three of the men, Scully, Thompson and Ryder were jailed in 2014 as part of Operation Bronze, an investigation into cannabis dealing, when Thompson was also convicted of supplying crack cocaine and heroin.
Referring to this, Judge Potter told those men: “What is clear is that none of you learned the lessons of those convictions and reverted to drug supply.”
KANE BENNETT
Bennett controlled the supply of drugs flowing to Morecambe, Plymouth and Torquay and pleaded guilty to conspiracies to supply heroin and cocaine.
He also admitted conspiracies to possess firearms and ammunition without a certificate.
The gun charges related to the April 20 raided on a farm off Perimeter Road, Kirkby.
Police found an English RPA Quadlite bolt action rifle with telescopic sight, and a sawn-off Italian Beretta Silver Pigeon I, double-barrelled shotgun.
Both had been stolen in burglaries and Bennett's DNA was later identified on both weapons.
Ian Unsworth, QC, prosecuting, had previously told the court there were 22 rounds of live .380 ammunition, including some Fiocchi rounds "designed to expand on impact".
He said the rounds were of a calibre "associated with use in self-loading pistols and also sub-machine guns".
An unidentified semi-automatic pistol magazine was later found to bear Thompson's DNA.
Bennett was linked to the Strand Gang by Mr Unsworth, though he had no previous convictions.
Frank Dillon, defending, said "very unusually" in a case of this nature, Bennett was "effectively a man of previous good character".
He said a letter from Bennett's girlfriend didn't make any excuses for him and didn't "pull any punches" in her disapproval of his actions.
Mr Dillon said: "It speaks in moving terms of the effect his behaviour has had on her and their young son in the period he's been in custody."
He said Bennett had a "difficult" background, which he would not detail in open court, adding: "He hasn't had an easy time in his younger days."
Judge Potter accepted the 26-year-old was of previous good character, but said the offences revealed by Operation Casino II “cast a very deep shadow over your family”.
He said it was clear Bennett, of Galemeade Road, Croxteth, had a difficult upbringing and told him: “It is for you to decide whether your potential to reflect and reform will be met.”
Bennett was sentenced to 14 years and four months in jail.
CHRISTOPER SCULLY
Scully was identified as a key figure in the drugs business centred on Morecambe.
He was repeatedly arrested during the course of the police operation, with one raid on his home leading to the discovery of a manual drug press, around £2,000 in cash, scales, plus "a homemade gun cabinet" and a "bore brush" for cleaning gun barrels.
He was also arrested alongside Bennett after packages containing 26g of cocaine and 27g of heroin were ditched in West Derby Cemetery.
Mr Unsworth said: "The packages were not shaped as in other cases, with the usual golf ball or tennis ball shape. These were in longer moulded packages, which would make it easier to internally secrete by a female."
Michael Scholes, defending Scully, who has four previous convictions for five offences, said he did not have any past links to Class A drugs and his involvement in these plots "coincided with a significant family tragedy".
Referring to the Morecambe "graft", Mr Scholes argued: "This is not a County Lines operation because there was no suggestion here that people were being put under pressure in Morecambe, that there was any what's termed cuckooing, that there was any effective control from Liverpool to Morecambe.
"The reality is simply these drugs were being sold to an existing network of Morecambe dealers."
He accepted the "Scouse Tom" line was frequently located in Liverpool, but said there had been no "takeover" in Morecambe and there was not any evidence of threats, violence or duress, "classic ingredients of manipulation of vulnerable individuals on the ground".
This was accepted by the judge.
Mr Scholes also said encrypted phones were not present in this case, adding: "If the use of EncroChat and the like are the supermarkets and hypermarkets, this was a corner shop."
Judge Potter said it was clear Scully’s sentence would be “harshly” felt by loved ones but said it appeared the 33-year-old was living a “double life” as he cared for a loved one while playing a key role in the drug dealing operation.
Scully, of Prestbury Road in Norris Green, admitted conspiracies to supply cocaine and heroin.
He was sentenced to nine years and four months in jail.
PHILLIP RYDER
Ryder was said to have played a "hands on" and "lower leading role" beneath Bennett and Scully as he carried out drug and cash deals.
Of his role, Mr Unsworth said: "The graft was called the Scouse Tom graft and Ryder in fact took on the persona of Scouse Tom.
"Bodyworn camera footage of Ryder being arrested in Morecambe in 2018 shows him answering to the name of Tom when in company with his girlfriend."
Ryder had 13 previous convictions for 19 offences, and was jailed for four years in 2013 for dealing Class A drugs.
Peter Killen, defending Ryder, said him answering to the name of "Tom" in 2018 was outside of this 2020 conspiracy for which he was being sentenced.
He suggested the amounts ferried to Morecambe were less than stated by the prosecution and Ryder's role was more akin to a "significant role" as someone who handled drugs at his home and passed them to couriers.
Mr Killen said a family friend noted Ryder's "work ethic and success" as a painter and decorator, but his work ran out when the pandemic hit and she noticed his "low mood", before he returned to "old ways".
He said Ryder had supported his girlfriend's two children, before they went on to have two children together, "who of course will be affected".
Judge Potter said Ryder, of Quernmore Road in Kirkby, played a “leading role” in the network but that he held an “operational function” below that of Bennett and Scully.
He found Ryder acted as a “channel” for the passing of drugs to couriers.
The 40-year-old admitted conspiracies to supply cocaine and heroin and was sentenced to eight years and seven months in jail.
JAMIE MAC THOMPSON
Thompson had his own drug dealing business in Liverpool but was found to have supplied Bennett and Scully with ounce amounts.
When the farm in Kirkby was raided, an unidentified semi-automatic pistol magazine was later found to bear the DNA of the 30-year-old.
Thompson had 23 previous convictions for 35 offences, including dealing crack cocaine, heroin and cannabis.
Charles Lander, defending him, said he pleaded guilty to the charges against him on the basis he wasn't involved in the Morecambe and South West operations, simply ran his own Liverpool "graft", and only had the gun magazine for a short time before he returned it to another.
He said Thompson's older brother "died in tragic circumstances in 2012" and that his twin brother died in prison in 2020.
Mr Lander said his client now had a 17-month-old child and wanted "to be reunited with his daughter as soon as possible".
Judge Potter accepted Thompson, of no fixed address, had experienced a “difficult upbringing” and was keen to turn his life around.
He told him: “It is hoped in 2022 you are a different person to the one involved in conspiracies to supply drugs in 2020. Time will tell.”
Thompson admitted conspiracies to supply cocaine and heroin and possession of ammunition.
He was sentenced to nine years and six months.
The sentencing will continue on Monday
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