Exmouth drug dealer who joined £1.38m gang is jailed

The Liverpool based crime group held meetings at the home of John O’Neill in Exeter Road and another house in Parry’s Farm Close where two other dealers lived.

O’Neill denied being involved but was found guilty at a trial earlier this year where the jury rejected his claim that he had made repeated visits to Liverpool to go fishing or visit relatives.

He not only ran at least one of three lines which were used to send bulk text messages but had meetings with the leaders of the conspiracy at Finlake holiday park in Chudleigh, and Polperro in Cornwall.

He also went to the final of the European Championships at Wembley with some of the major figures in the group, where they all saw England lose the match to Italy.

The two other locally based dealers were Adrian Mulcahy and Dillon Ballard, who were living at Parry’s Farm Close at the time but have now moved to the Midlands. Mulcahy also took part in selling drugs in Cornwall.

O’Neill was jailed for five years and six months by Judge Anna Richardson at Exeter Crown Court while Mulcahy and Ballard both received suspended sentences.

They were part of a gang which targeted seaside towns in Devon and Cornwall and used a camper van to tour the South West and create a network of dealers in holiday resorts.

The gang ran 36 drug lines and were so successful that its leaders were spending half their time in Ibiza by the time police closed down their operation autumn last year.

The conspiracy was based in Liverpool and recruited couriers who made almost weekly trips to the West Country, setting up the first network in Exmouth in February 2021 before moving on to Torbay and Cornwall.

The dealers stayed at Airbnbs, Leisure parks and holiday camp sites including one on the Lizard where the camper vans was parked while the Cornish operation was being set up.

The 20-month-long plot involved 21 men or women, 38 drugs lines, and 33 courier trips which brought an estimated 8.8 kilograms of heroin and 6.6 kilograms of cocaine with a total value of £1.38 million.

The police seized thousands of pounds worth of drugs and £30,000 cash during five different vehicle stops and were able to trace tens of thousands of pounds passing through the gang leaders’ bank accounts. They traced more than 20,000 messages sent to users in which drugs were offered.

The leader of the conspiracy was 25-year-old Benjamin Burns who made 15 trips to the South West, including several with his girlfriend Dannielle Marshall, and bought a specially adapted phone which hid its true number and was intended to throw the police off the scent.

The next three most important members were Thomas Keating, his son Christy and cousin Georgie, who all made frequent trips to Devon and Cornwall, including using the camper van.

All of the leaders took regular holidays to Spain and Burns ran the final two drugs lines from Ibiza. The dealers sometimes flew back to Britain and hired cars at the airport to head straight to the South West.

The operation was broken up by a major police operation which included surveillance in Exmouth, Teignmouth and Camborne and relied heavily on phone evidence which showed not only how the group kept in touch with each other but also showed the movements of the main players.

The gang received jail sentences totalling more than … years from Judge Anna Richardson at Exeter Crown Court. She told them that drugs have a devastating impact on the lives of users and on society.

She said the gang had exploited local addicts in Devon and Cornwall who were recruited to help the conspiracy through the offer of free drugs or pressure to pay off debts which they had run up as a result of their habit.

Lesser members of the organised crime group, including Burns’s partner and sister and many of the local addicts who became part of the distribution network, received suspended sentences totalling almost ten years.

Miss Chloe Griggs, prosecuting, said the inquiry, codenamed Operation Harbinger Two, was intended to identify those controlling street dealers ‘from the top down’.

The conspiracy began with deliveries to the first Exmouth-based drugs line in February 2021 and run until the final arrest when Thomas Keating was caught bringing heroin worth £68.600 and 13 kilograms of amphetamines worth up to £160,000 into Devon in late September 2022.

The police used extensive surveillance and were able to estimate the total value of the drugs by calculating the number of trips in which they were brought to the South West from Liverpool.

Subsequent analysis of phones allowed police to work out the links between the 21 people involved and to track the movements of the camper van through Cornwall and Devon.

Important meetings between the main players were found to have happened at Finlake Holiday Park at Chudleigh, in Polperro, the Lizard and Bude in Cornwall, and at two different houses in Exmouth.

Mr Chris Cuddihee, defending, said O’Neill’s involvement with the entire conspiracy had been small and had only lasted for six months, effectively ending after the European Championship final.

Lawyers for Mulcahy and Ballard said their role was closer to lesser than to significant and that both had turned their lives around and succeeded in overcoming the heroin addiction which had made then vulnerable to exploitation by the gang.

Barristers representing the other defendants said they were drawn into dealing by their youth, naivety, drug addiction, debt, or difficult personal circumstances.

All these defendant admitted or were found guilty of conspiracy to supply heroin or cocaine or both and received the following sentences.

Leaders.

Burns, aged 25, of Warwick Drive, Padiham, Burley; 10 years 6 months.

Thomas Keating, aged 44, of Woolfall Crescent, Huyton; 10 years.

Christy Keating, aged 24, of Dorothea Crescent, Widnes; 10 years 5 months

Georgie Keating, aged 24, Cromford Road, Huyton; 11 years 5 months.

Couriers:

Kevin Mallen, aged 41, of Lincombe Road, Liverpool; 6 years 4 months.

Christopher Mallen, aged 65, of Nyland Road, Knowsley; 6 years.

Other Liverpool based dealers.

Jake Myers, aged 23, of Gladcia Close, Huyton; 3 years 6 months.

Jamie Marshall, aged 22, of Burham Close, Penge, London; 6 years.

Lee Paton, aged 34, of James Holt Avenue, Kirkby; 2 years 7 months.

Taylor Burns, aged 31, of Ottershaw Gardens, Blackburn: 5 years 2 months

James Casey, aged 45, of Woolfall Crescent, Liverpool; 2 years suspended for 2 years.

Devon and Cornwall based:

Richard Morsley, aged 43, of Muckworthy, Ashwater, near Holsworthy; 4 years 6 months.

Dillon Ballard, aged 29, of Pershore Road, Birmingham, and formerly of Parrys Farm Close, Exmouth; 2 years suspended for 2 years.

Adrian Mulcahy, aged 36, of Pershore Road, Birmingham, and formerly of Parrys Farm Close, Exmouth; 2 years suspended for 2 years.

Benjamin Hopkins, aged 46, , of Shoreside, Shaldon, Teignmouth; 2 years suspended for 2 years.

John O'Neill, aged 51, of High Street, Exmouth; 5 years 6 months.

Demelza Trewartha, aged 48, of Higher Trevithick, Hayle; 2 years suspended for two years.

John Ward, aged 55, of East Cliff Road, Dawlish; 3 years.

Three defendants admitted lesser offences. They are:

Joanna Buchanan, aged 49, of Shoreside, Shaldon, Teignmouth: admitted assisting an organised crime group and production of cannabis. 12 months suspended for 2 years.

Maggie Burns, aged aged 21, of Homer Road, Knowlsey; 12 months suspended for 2 years.

Dannielle Marshall, 27, of Wichling Close, Orpington; both admitted money laundering and assisting an organised crime group. 18 months suspended for 2 years.