County lines gang jailed for Grimsby drug dealing

Scott Hendry (left) Andres Vassou (top left) Lee Healy (top right) Jamie Shaw (bottom left) and Reece Navarro were all jailed

Five members of a county lines gang have been jailed for supplying more than £1.3m worth of drugs.

The group, based in Liverpool and Cheshire, sold crack cocaine and heroin in Grimsby.

One of the ringleaders Scott Hendry was jailed for 14 years after being found guilty at Sheffield Crown Court.

Det Insp Phil Booker from Humberside Police said officers from three forces and the National Crime Agency began their investigation three years ago.

"Towards the latter end of 2017, an arrest was made for an unrelated burglary in the Merseyside area, and the offender's mobile phone was seized and digitally and forensically examined, with messages indicating he was involved in the supply of Class A drugs," said Mr Booker.

After gathering evidence, raids were carried out simultaneously in Grimsby, Liverpool and Warrington in March last year.

Hendry, 27, of Longshaw Street, Warrington controlled the local and non-local, drug runners in Grimsby, Humberside Police said.

He was convicted in March of two counts of supplying of Class A drugs between September 2017 and March 2019.

'Vulnerable people'

Andres Vassou, 30, of Queens Drive, Stoneycroft, Liverpool was jailed for eight years after admitting transporting the drugs between Merseyside and Grimsby.

Lee Healey, 33, of Centenary Close, Liverpool was arrested on Merseyside and pleaded guilty to supplying drugs. He was jailed for nine years.

Reece Navarro, 20, of Hillside Road, Liverpool, and Jamie Shaw, 23, of Pine Road, Runcorn, Cheshire also pleaded guilty to supplying drugs. Navarro was sentenced to 32 months in prison and Shaw sentenced to 35 months.

Mr Booker said that county lines gangs brought "misery to residents" in towns where they operated.

"We will not tolerate any type of organised crime and we work very closely with other forces and organisations to build intelligence as to where these groups are operating, and more often than not exploiting children and vulnerable people in order to line their own pockets," he said.