Prisoner ran East Midlands teen drug ring from jail

The court was told how Shaun Lau would send teenagers to sell heroin and cocaine in Newark and Skegness because the market in Nottingham was saturated

A prisoner who used teenagers to run drugs across county lines has been sentenced to 10-and-a-half years.

Shaun Lau, 30, admitted running the network in which young people were recruited by gangs in large cities to sell drugs in rural areas.

Drug orders were taken by phone and teenagers from Nottingham would be sent to deliver, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

Lau ran the operation from HMP Hewell in Worcestershire.

He was one of 14 sentenced for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

What are County Lines drug deals?

The court was told how Lau would send teenagers to sell heroin and cocaine in Newark, Nottinghamshire, and Skegness in Lincolnshire, because the market in Nottingham was saturated.

After orders came through on "the drugs lines", gang members would use a different number to dispatch young "runners", the court heard.

'Casting a sinister shadow'

Police said Lau did this while serving time for previous drug conspiracy offences and the gang was intending to extend into Grantham, in Lincolnshire.

Det Ch Insp Karen Pearson said the gang "exploited vulnerable residents to set up camp" in Skegness and Newark and held a "toxic influence" in Nottingham where they would enlist people.

She added: "Lau and his army of young subordinates caused untold damage with their crimes, casting a sinister shadow over two towns."

Other gang members sentenced for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs

• Jaydon Wood, 29, of Trinity Street, Gainsborough,: Nine years and eight months

• Daniel Langford, 19, of Market Place, Newark: Seven-and-a-half years at a young offenders institution

• Ross Dyer, 38, of Abbotsford Drive in St Ann's, Nottingham: Six years and one month

• Christine Bailey-Brown, 43, of Byford Close in Mapperley, Nottingham: Six years

• Monica Davidson, 21, of Byford Close in Mapperley, Nottingham: Five-and-a-half years

• Jarrod Westcarr, of Joyce Avenue in Daybrook, Nottingham, who was also charged with dangerous driving: Four-and-a-half years and a further 15 months for a driving offence, to run consecutively

• Jaylen Rhodes, 20, of Homegrove Court in Bulwell, Nottingham: Five years

• Curtis Burke, 27, of no fixed abode: Three years and four months

• Charles Amadi, 21, of Lodgewood Close in Bulwell, Nottingham: Seven years and seven months

• Lucy Langford, 22, of Courtleet Way in Bulwell, Nottingham, who also admitted transfer of criminal property: Two years and 10 months

• Leah Barrett, 18, of Willow Hill Close in Bulwell, Nottingham: Two years, suspended for two years

• Scott Seville, 44, of London Road in Newark: Two-and-a-half years

• Tracey Barthorpe, 39, of Coleman Avenue, New Balderton: Three years and two months

• A 15th gang member, Dean Haynes, 30, of Sullivan Close in St Ann's, Nottingham, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and will be sentenced on 2 November