Six sentenced after police break Somerset county lines drug network

(l-r) Oliver Lynes, Lubabalo Hale, Jamaal Newman and Courtney Tanner-Mulholland were one of six sentenced

Six people have been sentenced after a county lines drug network was dismantled.

Last year, five simultaneous police warrants were carried out at properties in Bath and Keynsham in Somerset.

Officers made arrests and seized quantities of heroin and crack cocaine with an estimated street value in excess of £38,000.

Avon and Somerset Police also seized large knives and an estimated £15,000 in cash.

The investigation has now resulted in six people being sentenced, with the last defendant being jailed at a hearing on Tuesday 19 September.

Courtney Tanner-Mulholland, 18 of Keynsham, was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on Tuesday.

He was sentenced to five years after pleading guilty to charges of being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine, two counts of being in possession of criminal property and one count of dangerous driving.

Sylvia Bearman was sentenced to 38 months in prison

Five others have also been sentenced in recent months, after admitting charges of being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine.

Jamaal Newman, 19 of Hercules Way, Keynsham, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in a young offenders' detention centre.

Lubabalo Hale, 20, of no fixed address, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment.

Oliver Lynes, 20, of Beckford Gardens, Bathwick, was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years.

He was also given a curfew, ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work and to complete a 30-day rehabilitation activity order.

Sylvia Bearman, 38, of Shaws Way, Twerton, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for 18 months. She was also given a nine-month rehabilitation order requirement.

A 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to a two-year detention order in a young offenders' detention centre.

Newman, Hale and Lynes had also admitted an offence of being in possession of criminal property, while the 17-year-old admitted two counts of the same offence.

Investigating officer, PC James Abbott from the County Lines Drugs team, said: "These are predominantly young people with their lives ahead of them, who've been influenced by the false and harmful 'kudos' of dealing class A drugs for cash."