Men who ran cocaine gang from mums' houses jailed

Two men, who ran a drugs operation from their mothers' homes, have been jailed alongside three others for supplying cocaine worth £25,000.

Gloucestershire Police said ringleader Jordan Ireland, 29, from Cheltenham, ran the operation from his mum's house in Hucclecote, where he was filmed weighing cocaine in her kitchen.

James Blandford, 35, from Hucclecote, also lived with his own mum and was described as "second-in-command" of the drugs gang.

They were both sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court earlier, alongside gang members Brian Dennis, 54 from Cheltenham, Ashley Booth, 29 and Scott Capstick, 37, both from Gloucester.

The men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply drugs, apart from Capstick, who was in court on the lesser charge of being concerned with the supply of drugs, which he admitted.

The court was told an investigation was launched into the gang in April 2024, when Ireland, who had previously served a six year prison sentence for drug offences, was arrested for unrelated matters.

Police downloaded data from Ireland's mobile phone, which led officers to start a covert surveillance investigation.

The court was told how the gang brought in £25,000 worth of Class A drugs to Gloucestershire and surrounding counties between February 2023 and September 2024, with the addition of some cannabis and ketamine.

Det Insp Matt Phillips, from Gloucestershire Police, said the cocaine would then be mixed with cheaper substances such as local anaestheticBenzocaineto stretch out the supply and to maximise profits.

Dennis, who was a mechanic by trade, would then press the mixture into 1kg (2.20lb) blocks to make it look like the cocaine had not been tampered with.

The court was told how Booth was involved in helping to store and distribute the drugs.

The group also put in extra measures to make sure the money - which changed hands - went where they intended it to.

"We found they were sometimes handing over £100,000 a time in cash to a courier and obviously they wanted some security to make sure that went to plan," explained Phillips.

"So one of the models they used was the courier would send a photograph of a serial number of a £5 note," he said.

"Before they handed the money over the person coming to meet them had to have that exact bank note in their possession so they knew the money was going to the right place," he added.

Detectives also found videos filmed by the defendants, including one showing an estimated 6kg (13lb) of cocaine in Ireland's kitchen.

Phillips said the gang also used encrypted apps on their phones to advertise the product and to arrange cash to be collected.

Ireland was sentenced to 11 years and eight months in prison, while Blandford was sentenced to eight years and three months.

Dennis was sentenced to six years and four months, Booth was sentenced to seven years and one month, and Capstick was sentenced to three years and four months.

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