Scouse Dave county lines gang members jailed

Five members of a county lines drug gang known as the Scouse Dave Line have been jailed.

A total of seven members of the organised crime group, which peddled crack cocaine and heroin between Liverpool, Gosport and Plymouth, were sentenced during the two-day hearing at Portsmouth Crown Court.

Operational managers Adam Hughes and Gary Cranney were jailed for eight-and-a-half years and seven years respectively, whilst Lee Richardson received a nine-year prison sentence during the hearing.

Gang leaders, and brothers, Anthony and Brian Siner, both from Liverpool, were jailed for a combined total of more than 30 years earlier this year.

Hughes, 38, from in Heathfield, East Sussex, and Liverpudlians Cranney, 41 and 27-year-old Richardson had all previously plead guilty to multiple counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

Alongside them, Max Pike, 28, from Gosport was jailed for five years and seven months and 21-year-old Clayton Donnelly, also from Gosport, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years.

The pair had both plead guilty to two counts each of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

Donna Yuen, 48, from Gosport received a two-year suspended sentence for the same offence.

The hearing also saw 27-year-old Demi Hannon, from Liverpool receive a two-year community order for participation in the criminal activities of an Organised Crime Group.

A further six members of the gang are set to be sentenced at later dates.

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary led the investigation into the network, with the support of Merseyside Police and Devon & Cornwall Police.

Over the course of their enquiries, police seized four kilograms (8.8lbs) of drugs and more than £30,000 in cash, along with a number of weapons.

Between 1 January 2022 and 28 March 2023, it's believed the network sold at least 34.6kg (76.3lbs) of crack cocaine and heroin in Gosport and Plymouth.

Anthony Siner had been the head of the county lines gang, running heroin and crack cocaine through Gosport, police said.

His brother Brian controlled the line operating in Plymouth, Devon, from his prison cell - where he was coming to the end of a 14 year sentence for previous drugs supply offences.

Operational members of the gang spent time in Gosport making sure dealing went ahead and that the groups presence was felt effectively in the area, police said.

The members then took cash back to Liverpool when they returned to the city, where the "whole operation ran like a business – people worked and were paid a wage, before going home to see their families".

Police said their investigation had "involved the disruption of all tiers" of the gang, from ground-level runners, operational managers and two senior leaders - the Siner brothers.

A total of 17 conspirators have plead guilty to offences related to the gang, with those sentenced so far receiving more than 74 years in prison combined.

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