'Brutal' gang exploited vulnerable to sell drugs

Tommy Maughan (left) and Kai Bean were sentenced alongside a 17-year-old boy at Sheffield Crown Court

A "brutal" gang who exploited vulnerable drug users to sell heroin and crack cocaine worth nearly £280,000 have been sentenced.

Tommy Maughan, 21, Kai Bean, 21, and a 17-year-old boy used victims' Sheffield homes as bases to prepare drugs and forced them to sell them on in the local area.

The trio, who admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine, used violence to maintain control over their victims and falsely told them they were in debt, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Maughan and Bean were jailed for six years, with the teenager - who cannot be named for legal reasons - sentenced to three years in a youth detention centre.

Orders for Class A drugs would be received through various mobile phone numbers, South Yorkshire Police said, with the gang "flooding the streets of Woodhouse" with heroin and crack cocaine.

The gang sold an estimated 1.23kg of crack cocaine and 1.54kg of heroin in 3,000 transactions involving 79 drug users between July 2023 and July 2024, the court heard.

Maughan, of Badger Close, Sheffield, was also jailed for two counts of dangerous driving, assault of an emergency worker, criminal damage, driving without insurance and without a licence and a Section 20 wounding offence.

The teenager was also sentenced for assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Passing sentence, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, the Recorder of Sheffield, told the defendants: "Drug dealing is a pernicious trade, particularly when it involves Class A drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine.

"It is the foundation of much other criminality and sabotages the lives of those who are addicted to such drugs.

"Consequently, those who peddle those drugs must expect, and will receive, appropriate punishment."

Det Supt Nikki Shimwell says the trio brought "misery" to the streets of Woodhouse

Their crimes were exposed as part of South Yorkshire Police's Clear Hold Build operation, which launched in July 2024.

Det Supt Nikki Shimwell said Monday's sentencing would not have been possible without the testimony of the victims exploited by the "brutal" gang.

"Kai Bean, Tommy Maughan, and the boy who we are unable to name, caused misery in Woodhouse," she said.

"I'm pleased they will now be serving time behind bars where they will be unable to cause any further harm to the community."

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