Gang guilty of supplying cocaine and heroin

From left to right: Curtis Coburn, 25, Karl Richardson, 36 and Zack Wildman, 27

Four people involved in a drugs line between Somerset and Manchester are to due to be sentenced in November after being been convicted.

Police seized heroin and crack cocaine worth £1,200 from a hotel room in Bridgwater on 22 February, then found a mobile phone in a property the next day being used as a direct drugs line.

It showed all four people were involved in the drug supply, including a 17-year-old boy.

All from Greater Manchester, the teenager, Zack Wildman 27, Karl Richardson, 36, pleaded guilty; while Curtis Coburn, 25, from Urmston, was convicted during a trial on 16 August.

'Profit from misery'

Avon & Somerset Police became involved when they got information that Coburn - who was wanted from his own area - was staying at the hotel.

Officers went to arrest him when he said he was staying there alone and gave a false name.

However, a search found the class A drugs in the room.

Zack Wildman, from Partington, was thought to have been staying there as well, but was not present when police arrested Coburn. He was instead found at a home in Riversmead Walk the next day.

He was with Karl Richardson, from Timperley, and the 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

That is when police found a number of mobile phones, including the one used as a drugs line.

All were charged with being concerned in the supply of class A drugs, with Coburn also charged with being in possession of cannabis.

After pleas and convictions, they were remanded and are due to be sentenced on 7 November at Bristol Crown Court.

Det Sgt Stuart Hassell, of Avon & Somerset Police, said the force was committed to "disrupting county drug lines."

He said: “We acted swiftly upon receiving information about Curtis Coburn’s whereabouts, and the subsequent enquiries that followed has enabled us to successfully achieve convictions against four individuals who sought to profit from the misery drugs cause.”