MATRIX officers pursued a stolen BMW into a dead end before chasing those inside down an alley.
Footage released by police showed marked and undercover patrol cars following the X3 through the streets of Merseyside. They were chasing a teenager later jailed for a different car chase in which a police officer was injured.
That boy was Tre Freeman, today locked up again for even more offences. Freeman was seen dealing drugs from the BMW by undercover officers working on a major gang-busting operation in Cheshire early last year. It was established the vehicle was stolen and later involved in a chase through Newton le-Willows.
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Freeman was caught by officers after ditching the vehicle - but no charges were brought after it was unclear whether he was driving at the time of the chase. The 19-year-old was of interest to Cheshire Police due to the work of a massive undercover initiative targeting the sale of heroin and crack cocaine on the streets of Warrington.
Freeman, of no fixed abode but from St Helens, was discovered to be the lead figure in a drug dealing graft nicknamed the JJ Line. Between November 2020 and January 2021, JJ line workers dealt to an undercover officer 15 times. Two of those sales were conducted by Freeman.
Over those three months, 11,877 messages were sent to customers by the JJ phone number, used to arrange deals. Sales of between 650g and 1.3kg of Class A drugs were linked to the business, but transactions stopped after two homes were raided in Warrington.
Freeman did not halt his activity however. Instead, he moved onto what became known as the Jonno Line with Connor Houghton and Ellis Rigby. Active between February 2021 and May 2021, the enterprise dealt between 516g and 1.03kg of heroin and crack cocaine.
All three suspects were rounded up in Cheshire Police’s Operation Spartan. Freeman, Houghton and Rigby each admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine while Houghton.
Houghton, of The Crescent in Lymm, also admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm after Liverpool Crown Court he was the “instigator” of a violent street attack in Warrington in the early hours of July 31 of last year. The 20-year-old pushed over a man who protested when Houghton and his mates skipped a queue and jumped into a taxi. Houghton’s friends then beat the man while he was on the floor, knocking him unconscious.
Sarah Griffin, defending Freeman, said her client was already serving a sentence in a young offenders institution that was handed to him for dangerous driving last autumn. She described him as a young man who displayed “immaturity” and said there was no evidence that he lived an “extravagant lifestyle” as a result of the drug conspiracies he was linked to.
Suzanne Payne, defending Houghton, said he had no previous convictions and had been of previous good character before these incidents. She added he had a “troubled upbringing” and had fallen into heavy drug usage. Of the taxi rank attack, she said Houghton had “no recollection or reason” for the attack.
Simon Christie, defending Rigby, said the defendant made full admissions to the allegations against him and had been in care and received no support once he turned 18. The Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Andrew Menary, QC, said the three were involved in “dealing just misery”.
He sentenced Freeman to six years detention in a young offenders institution, Houghton to five years and eight months detention and Ellis to two years and four months.
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