£150,000 drug gang jailed
Reporter: RICHARD HOOTON
Date published: 20 September 2010
SIX men who planned to sell £150,000 worth of cocaine on local streets have been jailed.
Clive Heginbottom (37), from Palace Gardens, Royton, was one of the gang who admitted conspiracy to supply class A drugs at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Friday. He was jailed for five years and three months.
Ricky Walsh (26), of Heron Street, Oldham, had earlier admitted conspiracy to rob and handling a stolen car and was also convicted of possessing an imitation firearm following a trial.
He was sentenced at an earlier hearing to an indeterminate sentence for public protection and ordered to serve a minimum of 10 and a half years.
Scott Howarth (35), of Walmersley Road, Bury, was jailed for five years and seven months for the drug offences, with Robert Pinkney (28), of Suthers Street, Radcliffe, jailed for four years and nine months, Jamie Rothwell (24), of Grindon Avenue, Lower Kersal, jailed for six years and four months and Andrew McFadyen (36), of Oxendale Drive, Middleton, jailed for four years.
Police who executed a search warrant at a house on Littleton Road, Salford, on June 10 last year found a block of cocaine weighing 918 grams in the conservatory. When examined it was found to be 69 per cent pure.
The stash was worth between £30,000 and £45,000, but when cut with other substances would have been sold on the streets of Greater Manchester for a total of around £150,000.
Following the seizure officers viewed a large amount of evidence, including CCTV images, and identified the supply network.
Most of the defendants were arrested in June, 2009, but Heginbottom fled to Ireland.
Officers from Salford CID travelled to Ireland in April, 2010, and extradited Heginbottom under a European arrest warrant.
Det Sgt Simon Akker, from Salford CID, said: “This is another good result that once again demonstrates the work we are doing to target those involved in the sale and supply of illegal drugs.”
MORE stories, more pictures: read the print edition of the Chronicle every night — or try a subscription to the E-Chron - every word goes online. Click the link to find out more
