Final member of drugs gang jailed

Christopher Walker was part of a drugs gang

The final member of a criminal gang has been jailed, 12 years after a huge Cleveland Police drugs operation.

Christopher Walker, 45, was part of a criminal gang who transported industrial-scale quantities of heroin and cocaine from Manchester to Teesside in 2012.

Operation Cobweb, as it was known, saw 31 people jailed for a total of 230 years for their involvement in the multi-million pound drugs ring.

Although Walker’s offending dated back to 2012, he spent time abroad and kept a low profile for a number of years, detectives said.

Walker was eventually arrested in 2022 after his name came up when he was buying a £600,000 luxury home in the Manchester area, Teesside Crown Court heard on Wednesday.

Walker had properties in Oldham and Ingleby Barwick, in Stockton-on-Tees.

He also had a red Ferrari.

Christopher Walker's Ferrari

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The court heard Walker had played a significant role in the drugs ring and had held meetings with the heads of other organised crime gangs across Teesside.

Judge Jonathan Carrol said it "was no small fry enterprise".

"It was major league criminality with high level offenders," he added.

"This was a sophisticated conspiracy, you were playing for high stakes and thought the rewards would be substantial.’’