Four drug dealers connected to the infamous Strand Gang were caught after police seized a stash of deadly guns.
Kane Bennett, Christopher Scully, Phillip Ryder and Jamie Mac Thompson were all linked to the now defunct north Liverpool faction.
Thompson is the younger brother of senior Strand Gang figure Joey Thompson, 32, who was shot dead in a city street in 2012.
READ MORE: Women shout and swear as Strand Gang dealers brought down
Liverpool Crown Court today heard the four crooks were involved in cocaine and heroin plots stretching from Liverpool to seaside resorts across the UK.
But police dealt their gang a severe blow in April 2020, when a raid on a farm on the outskirts of Kirkby revealed a sawn-off shotgun and a rifle fitted with a telescopic sight.
Bennett, 26, of Tallarn Road, Kirkby; Scully, 33, of Prestbury Road, Norris Green; Ryder, 40, of Quernmore Road, Kirkby; and Thompson, 30, of no fixed address; were exposed as part of the Merseyside Police investigation "Operation Casino 2".
Ian Unsworth, QC, prosecuting, said it targeted the four men, "all of whom were associated with the Strand Gang, a Norris Green based OCG".
At the mention of the Strand Gang, women sitting in the public gallery moaned "f***ing hell" and "f***ing joke" - prompting Judge David Potter to warn: "It's not a matter of comment or commentary - if people wish to discuss this case, they must do so outside."
Mr Unsworth said Bennett and Scully played a "leading role" in supplying a "Morecambe graft" nicknamed "Scouse Tom".
He said they used Ryder, who played a "hands on" and "lower leading role" beneath them, to carry out drug and cash deals.
The QC 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."
Mr Unsworth said at least 100 deliveries were made, each typically containing an ounce each of heroin and cocaine, which was "a conservative estimate".
Bennett and Scully also had couriers making wholesale deliveries to dealers in Morecambe on "an almost daily basis".
He said Thompson played a "leading role" running his own "graft" in Liverpool, but also supplied Bennett and Scully with ounce amounts.
Mr Unsworth said Bennett also played a "leading role" directing two grafts in Plymouth and Torquay, called "Scouse JJ" and "Scouse T".
He said they used "a network of Kirkby-based criminals", some who moved to Plymouth, "giving the Liverpool dealers a network of contacts in the South West".
Scully, Thompson and Ryder were all jailed in 2014 as part of Operation Bronze, an investigation into cannabis dealing, when Thompson was also convicted of supplying crack cocaine and heroin.
Mr Unsworth said they had all become familiar with covert police tactics and "put those lessons into effect", showing awareness of ANPR capture and "dropping" phones at various times to try and thwart investigators.
He said: "Street level dealing was carried out by others who were often themselves sadly addicted to drugs... women were used to transport drugs, often concealed within their person."
Mr Unsworth said Bennett and Thompson rented city centre flats in other people's names "to stay off the radar", while Bennett and Scully did drug deals at Ryder's address - "to ensure Mr Ryder took on most of the risks of storage" - or at places including West Derby Cemetery.
He said: "Mr Bennett had access to a cache of firearms, Mr Thompson was linked to a magazine within the cache and Mr Scully was immediately made aware of the police seizure of that cache."
The court heard that discovery was one of a series of key events in 2020, which saw the plots begin to unravel.
On March 29 that year, officers raided Scully's home, arrested him and found a manual drug press, around £2,000 in cash, scales, small amount of cannabis and cocaine that he admitted possessing, plus "a homemade gun cabinet" and a "bore brush" for cleaning gun barrels.
On April 20, police raided a farm, connected to Bennett, in Perimeter Road, Kirkby.
They found an English RPA Quadlite bolt action rifle with telescopic sight, and a sawn-off Italian Beretta Silver Pigeon I, double-barrelled shotgun.
They had been stolen in burglaries and Bennett's DNA was later identified on both weapons.
Mr Unsworth said 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.
A further 75 rounds of various calibre live ammunition, included rounds often used in rifles and revolvers.
There was also "clothes, sponges, and a hacksaw, consistent with cleaning and adapting firearms".
After that raid, Mr Unsworth said "panic calls" were made between the four men.
The prosecutor outlined various arrests of couriers, after which phones were ditched or transferred between conspirators, so business could continue as normal.
Raids at flats in Berry Street in Liverpool city centre on August 10, 2020 saw police recover more than 0.8g of heroin in a communal hall, in packaging bearing Thompson's DNA.
Thompson was arrested in another apartment with nearly £6,000 in cash, scales and around 277g of the cutting agent phenacetin.
In a further flat officers found a drug press, more scales showing traces of drugs and adulterants, and mobile phones linked to dealing. He gave a no comment interview and was bailed.
Ryder's DNA was recovered on packaging on 18.5g of cocaine and 12g of heroin found in a raid at a gang member's home in Thornton Road, Childwall on September 17.
Four days later, after Ryder met Scully in a bookmakers to do a deal, police raided his home.
They found some 40g of heroin, which Ryder tried to hide under a fridge, with the packaging revealing Thompson's DNA.
On October 13, Bennett and Scully headed to West Derby Cemetery, before Bennett was followed by police and ditched two packages, containing 26g of cocaine and 27g of heroin.
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."
The pair were arrested and officers raided one to two addresses linked to Scully in Prestbury Road, where they found a small amount of cannabis, scales, plastic bags and phones, plus "an array of weapons including lock knives, a machete, an axe, hatchet and an air pistol and covert gun holder".
Bennett's then home in Galemeade Road, Croxteth was searched, where more phones were found, revealing evidence of drug dealing.
He gave a no comment interview, while Scully denied any knowledge of the drugs recovered.
However, on February 25, Scully was arrested at one of the properties in Prestbury Road, where police found "cannabis, digital scales, two mobile phones knives and a black covert gun holster".
Mr Unsworth said when interviewed, "he stated he dealt cannabis to his friends and that his friends were involved in supplying drugs and he is just unlucky".
Scully denied any involvement with the guns.
Ryder gave a no comment interview after his home was raided, when phones and cannabis recovered.
Thompson and Bennett weren't tracked down until March, when they both refused to give interviews.
The four men all admitted conspiring to supply cocaine and heroin between March and December 2020.
Thompson pleaded guilty on the basis he wasn't involved in the Morecambe and South West operations.
Bennett, who had no previous convictions, also admitted conspiring to possess firearms and ammunition.
Thompson pleaded guilty to possession of ammunition - stating he only held the magazine for a short time.
Defence lawyers will mitigate on behalf of the gang tomorrow, before they are sentenced on Friday and Monday.
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
