A street dealing gang sold hard drugs to addicts next to a children’s playground.
The ‘Lenny Line’ told customers that, with them, there was “no waiting, no debating” as they peddled heroin and crack cocaine. Its key members were brought down as part of a major undercover police probe codenamed Operation Spartan.
The ‘Lenny Line’ was a Class A dealing network that operated on the streets of Warrington. Outlining its activities Henry Riding, prosecuting, said it advertised through ‘flare messages’ - texts sent out to addicts - that, in this case, offered drugs that would “blow your mind”, that were “dynamite” and were so good there should be “no waiting, no debating” about purchasing them.
READ MORE: Drug dealer's gang busted after he carved his nickname and address into a tree
Mr Riding said the group, led by Mark Little - ‘Lenny’ - was in action between December 2020 and May 2021. During that period 8,647 text adverts were distributed. He said between 940g and 1.88kg of Class A drugs were believed to have been dealt during that period, leading to sales that could have amounted to £188,000.
The ‘Lenny Line’ was busted after Cheshire Police built up a picture of its members and their exploits - a project boosted by eight sales by gang members to an undercover officer posing as an addict.
These included sales by Brickfields Park off Orford Lane, the scene of a children's play park. Images of Matthew Little, who is wheelchair-bound, passing the play area after selling drugs were captured by police.
The line was led by Mark Little, who was helped by his younger brother, Matthew. Anthony Westhead, who ran a graft called ‘Scouse Billy’, also became involved in the operation while it was under surveillance. All three, as well as street dealer Barry Jones, were sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday.
Mark Little admitted conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin as well as dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified, driving with no insurance, possession of cocaine and failing to provide a specimen.
The driving offences stemmed from a police chase in March of last year that started on Lovely Lane in Warrington and saw him drive his Audi through red lights, mount a pavement, overtake a bus on the approach to a roundabout before turning into a dead end. Waheed Barber, defending the 38-year-old, said his criminality featured little “sophistication” and said his client “does not, in any way, shape or form, dilute his culpability”.
Defending Matthew Little, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin, Mr Baber told the court the 34-year-old was in a wheelchair after being paralysed in a motorbike accident five years ago. He said his client had become involved in drugs “at the tender age of nine” and began using heroin and cocaine at the age of 15.
This, Mr Baber said, had a “devastating effect on his education”, though he was still able to qualify as a bricklayer. He said the accident then had a significant impact on the dad, who he said was paid in drugs.
Westhead admitted conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin. He was also sentenced today for an incident that saw him caught with heroin and cocaine of a value between £5,500 and £6,500 secreted inside him after he was stopped while a passenger in a taxi just outside Aberystwyth in August 2019.
It emerged he paid £230 to a driver to take him from the Welsh town to Croxteth and then back. Caught with the drugs on the return journey, the 46-year-old dad said he had collected the drugs to pay off a debt. Mark le Brocq said his client had been “in debt all his life over drugs” and only played a “minor” role in the Lenny line.
Jones pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply crack cocaine. Keith Jones, defending, said his 53-year-old client argued he was involved in only one crack cocaine deal. He said his understanding was the grandad agreed to become involved in that transaction in order to try and barter a better deal for drugs he wanted for himself.
Judge Andrew Menary, QC, sentenced Mark Little, of Town Hill in Warrington, to 11 years in jail and banned him from driving for seven-and-a-half years.
Matthew Little, of Melville Close in Warrington, was sentenced to three years in jail. Westhead, of Melville Close, was jailed for a total of nine years.
Judge Menary told Jones, of Algernon Street in Warrington: "I do not accept you were involved on only one occasion but looking at the evidence overall I do accept you were involved on a limited number of occasions." Jones was sentenced to three years in jail.
