A teenager from Warrington involved in a ‘Junior Line’ drug dealing operation in the town was arrested with another man when suspicious police stopped their car.
Officers correctly thought the Peugeot being driven by Mason Howard was connected to county line dealing and they stopped it on Whittle Avenue, Great Sankey, heading towards Warrington.
They found teenager Kevonne Williams was the front seat passenger and when the vehicle was searched officers found 47 wraps of heroin, 20 wraps of crack cocaine and a graft phone each, said Martyn Walsh, prosecuting.
Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday (Monday) that they were not only travelling to Warrington to sell the drugs on August 2, 2022 but had done so on previous occasions from June 25 that year.
Sentencing Howard, now 25 and Williams, now 19, Judge David Swinnerton said “It’s a business in the sense of the huge amounts of money made by those who run these enterprises.
“But it is illegal and the courts take a firm view about it. It is a business that peddles in death and misery for lots of people and the destruction of family lives and communities. It causes a great deal of distress and destruction.”
He told Howard that he had fallen to the temptation to make money to get out of debt. “But it is making money out of other peoples’ misery.”
Judge Swinnerton jailed him for 31 months and urged him to continue with the good progress he has been making.
He sentenced Williams to 21 months detention suspended for two years and ordered him to carry out 200 hours unpaid work and 15 days rehabilitation activities.
Williams, of Normanby Close, Bewsey & Whitecross, and Howard, of Hastings Close, Heavily, Stockport, both pleaded guilty to possessing heroin and cocaine with intent to supply, being concerned in supplying cocaine, heroin and cannabis.
Anna Pope, defending said that Williams had been a victim of modern slavery. “He was 17, vulnerable and exploited. He was told what to do.”
Since the offences he has started to turn his life around with the help of his social worker and Salvation Army. He has enrolled in college and is now in employment as a customer services officer with BT though suspended pending the court case.
“He wants to help other teenagers to avoid the trap he fell into. He is going to speak to the probation service about that,” she said.
Howard’s lawyer, Gurdip Singh, said he had lost his employment because of the Covid pandemic and accumulated debts. He saw the opportunity to escape this and took it.
“He was only 23 at the time, indicative of immaturity but he takes ownership of his actions and expresses genuine regret and remorse. He has now got employment as a croupier in a casino, a job he loves and wants to continue.”
