Hull: County Lines gang busted and imprisoned for Class A drug offences

Message from Humberside Police:

A total of ten men and women operating as one organised crime network have been jailed this year for being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs, with another five awaiting sentencing and one awaiting trial.

In a huge operation tackling organised County Lines drug dealing, which was joint with Merseyside Police, we’ve removed a gang from the streets who had been flooding Hull with an excess of £1million of heroin and crack cocaine per year for the last 18-months.

The two men at the helm of this gang have this month (November) been sentenced to a total of 17 years in prison between them, with eight street-level dealers receiving combined sentences exceeding 14 years, in court cases held between April and August this year.

Daniel Condliffe (26) of Old Barn Lane, Liverpool, and John Lawless (39) of Bowlalley Lane, Hull, were both convicted of possession with intent to supply heroin and crack cocaine after admitting the offences at Hull Crown Court earlier this month. Condliffe was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and Lawless was sentenced to seven years.

Liverpool-based Condliffe was the controller in Merseyside and was arrested during a warrant in this area on Monday 4 January 2021, with Lawless having moved across to Hull to control the operation from a local level. He was arrested by our team in Hull on the same day.

DS Matthew Grantham, leading the Humberside Police investigation, said: “We believe that by stopping this gang’s activities we have prevented significant amounts of heroin and crack cocaine from being sold on the streets of Hull and the associated crime and anti-social behaviour that goes with this kind of offending.

“We know the impact this has on our communities and that’s why we will do everything we can to find those who are responsible and bring them to justice.

“Hopefully the sentences handed down to these two men, and those working beneath them, will serve as a warning to others looking to come to our towns and cities to deal drugs that they’re not welcome here and we won’t tolerate it.

“I would like to thank our colleagues in Merseyside for their support, as well as the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre, which provided a massive support throughout the investigation.

“I would also like to thank all the people who contact us with information about drug dealing and drug-related crime in their areas.

“It’s thanks to you that we can put together successful operations like this one and make it clear that if you’re looking to sell drugs, Humberside is not an easy target.”

Inspector Gary Stratton from Merseyside Police’s Project Medusa team said: “County Lines drug dealing not only blights the lives of the drug users, the communities in which they deal in but also the lives of the young and vulnerable people used to store and sell the drugs.

“The sentence Condliffe has received reflects the severity of his crimes and re-enforces our collective commitment to take county lines offenders off our streets and bring them to justice.

“As we have done in this case, we will continue to work with police forces and authorities across the country to make sure there is no safe place for such criminals to hide.”

If you have any concerns about what’s happening in your area, speak to your local officer, call into your nearest station or call our non-emergency 101 line.

If you’d rather not give your name, you can also call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111. If someone is in immediate danger, always call 999.