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The final member of “a planned, sophisticated, sustained and determined” drugs conspiracy has been put behind bars. CornwallLive has previously reported how three men were jailed for the empire that saw Cornwall flooded with heroin and cocaine and more than half a million pounds in cash sent back to Liverpool from small Cornish post offices.
The operation saw around 140 packages sent back up north containing more than £500,000 cash. Half a kilo of heroin and cutting agent was also seized during a string of raids. The enterprise came tumbling down when police caught a break when coffee jars of drugs were accidentally left behind in a Cornish pub.
Recorder Christopher Quinlan KC previously jailed Kevin Condliffe and Richard McLean, 46 and 39 respectively, from Liverpool and Kieron Ellis, 44, from the Penzance and St Ives area. Condliffe was on Friday jailed for nine and a half years, McLean eight and a half years and Ellis seven.
Read more: Drugs operation sent 500k from Cornwall to Liverpool by post
Last to learn his fate after issues with his case were resolved on Monday was Johnathan Fincham, 53, from Pellor Fields, in Breage near Helston. Truro Crown Court heard that he had a number of previous offences recorded against him but not for drugs.
Representing Fincham, Chris Spencer said: “Since his remand he has been working in the prison laundry and is doing English and art classes. He has a good work record and was employed at a dockyard until 2021 when he failed a drugs test, was sacked and his downfall really begun.
“He moved to Cornwall in 2003 and it was his heroin misuse that brought him into contact with Mr Condliffe. He regrets allowing himself to be drawn into it.”
Sentencing Fincham, Recorder Quinlan said that Fincham accepts he played a significant role in the conspiracy, operating below Condliffe and McLean but above Ellis. He added that the top of the chain operated in Liverpool.
Describing the drugs enterprise as “planned, sophisticated, sustained and determined”, Recorder Quinlan said that not only had half a kilo of heroin been found as well as cutting agent during raids, but £500,000 in cash sent back to Liverpool by post from post offices in Mullion and Ruan Minor to reduce the risk of somebody being stopped carrying cash they couldn’t explain.
Fincham was arrested at his home and found to be in possession more than £800 in cash, diamorphine and cocaine. £13,000 had been moved through his bank accounts to third parties. Recorder Quinlan said that Fincham moved the drugs to others in the chain for onward supply and “facilitated in the role of arranging vehicles”.
Fincham, who was present on occasions when the money was being posted, was jailed for a total of six and a half years as Recorder Quinlan commended police on their work.
The sentences followed Operation Foxshine, a police investigation into the supply of controlled Class A drugs by a well-established Organised Crime Group operating the County Line ‘Scouse Mick.’
Phone and financial analysis proved that between 1 January 2021 and 14 July 2022 the group were bringing drugs from Liverpool to Cornwall by car and using the Royal Mail to post the cash profits back up the line to associates in Liverpool.
A detailed review identified that the group posted 140 parcels during that time. Based on weights, the parcels were believed to contain more than £560,000 in cash, equating to the sale of around seven kilograms of drugs.
Officers carried out warrants and seizures on a number of occasions during the investigation including in September 2021 when Condliffe and McLean left a carrier bag containing £50,000, or 5,000 deals, of heroin in coffee jars in a pub. The pair returned a short time later to retrieve the bag, only to find police had already seized it.
Thousands of messages between the four were found on mobile devices discussing the distribution of drugs and movement of cash – these were identified by police despite the men regularly changing phone numbers in order to avoid detection.
On 13 July 2022 Condliffe posted two parcels containing nearly £10,000 in cash to Liverpool. Officers from Devon and Cornwall Police and Merseyside Police awaited confirmation that the parcels had been successfully delivered the following morning before executing 11 warrants simultaneously in Helston, Penzance, Carbis Bay and Liverpool.
The men were all arrested in Cornwall and later charged. The investigation team, along with Royal Mail, have received an International Digital Investigation Award (IDIA) for their work on the case.
Detective Inspector Glenn Willcocks, Senior Investigating Officer, said: “We worked closely with the Royal Mail and Merseyside Police to identify the patterns and behaviours being used by this group.
“We were then able to track the volume and frequency of the parcels which enabled us to understand the scale of the group, take action against the offenders and dismantle the drugs line. This is an example of how these groups will adapt the ways they work with the times and that’s something that police and other agencies must be alive to.
“This was no side line job, those sentenced today played pivotal roles in this group and benefitted from the proceeds of crime.”
Christine Hart, of the CPS South West Complex Casework Unit, said: “The use of the Royal Mail Postal Service to send cash profits back to Liverpool was a unique tactic employed by this organised crime group to try and avoid the repeated short ‘cash courier’ journeys which usually feature in County Lines drug dealing.
“Despite this, Kevin Condliffe and Richard McLean still drew attention to themselves whilst drinking in the Quintrell Inn, Newquay on 5 th September 2021 and left behind their bag containing 0.5kg heroin which had a street value of £50,000. Following intervention by the customers and staff at the Quintrell Inn, who recovered the bag before Condliffe and McLean even realised it was missing, together with the subsequent police investigation, those drugs, and many others, never made it to the street.
“Drug-related crime is corrosive – it damages not only those involved in buying and selling and their families, but the communities in which they live. The CPS is committed to working with the police to disrupt the supply of drugs by bringing those involved to justice and ensuring they do not profit from their criminality.”
Detective Sergeant Gerard Farley from Merseyside Police said: “We welcome today’s sentencing of Condliffe, McLean, Fincham and Ellis. This investigation involved working closely with Devon and Cornwall Police to gather sufficient intelligence to execute warrants and seizures, and ultimately shut down the ‘Scouse Mick’ County Line.
“The four men involved were key figures in the drug supply chain from Liverpool to Cornwall and we are pleased they are now behind bars and unable to cause any more harm in our communities.
“Project Medusa is Merseyside’s dedicated response to County Lines, and we are committed to working alongside other forces to close them down and protect vulnerable people.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Our security teams work very closely with police forces and will often assist officers with their expertise and the tools at their disposal. As was the case here.
“We are very pleased their support in this investigation led to a conviction and this substantial sentence. We will always do everything we can to make our service extremely hostile to criminals.”
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