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Home > News > World News > Article > Drug dealing Brit family jailed

Drug dealing Brit family jailed

Updated on: 24 November,2011 08:36 AM IST  | 
Agencies |

13 members of the Whitney family, residing in Liverpool, were sentenced to 82 years in prison for running a 24-hour heroin and cocaine service

Drug dealing Brit family jailed

13 members of the Whitney family, residing in Liverpool, were sentenced to 82 years in prison for running a 24-hour heroin and cocaine service





Gran's Drug clan: (From above) Carol Whitney and Mary McCabe were
sentenced to 8 years, Wayne Hincks received 6 years whereas Neil
Brady, Michael O'Toole have to serve 4 and 5 years and Paul Whitney
was given nine years behind bars


Police put the family under surveillance and deployed undercover officers before eventually swooping on the Whitney family clan and their cohorts. As the net closed on the drug dealers, officers found an SA80 assault rifle which had been stolen from army barracks on Salisbury Plain in 2005 and around 1,200 rounds of ammunition as well as a large quantity of Class A substances.

Undercover officers from Merseyside police posed as addicts to make 'test purchases'to gain the necessary evidence as undercover officers filmed the footage. The Whitneys used unregistered, pre-paid mobile telephones and deployed untraceable vehicles to rendezvous with addicts, often in a telephone kiosk on a street corner.

One undercover officer, known as Ray, obtained a mobile number from a female addict which soon became known as the 'Whitney line'. Ringleader Paul Whitney, his accomplices Michael O'Toole and Matthew Mayor, together with other family members Leslie Whitney and now estranged wife Carol Whitney were prominent players in the conspiracy that plagued the streets Liverpool Crown Court heard.

In a desperate attempt to escape police, clan member Matthew Mayor hurled one kilo packets of cocaine out the window of his Mercedes S320 as he was chased down by surveillance teams in December last year.

The packets split as they hit the road -- showering the carriageway with ufffd47,000 (Rsu00a0 3.83 crore) worth of drugs. After weaving in and out of rush-hour traffic and crossing the central reservation he was eventually cornered and arrested.

Mother Emma Mackenzie, tried to hide cocaine wraps in the nappy bag of her young child, as she passed the toddler to her own mum, Mary McCabe, during a police raid on her home in Anfield.

When police arrested grandmother Carol Whitney, who was the matriarch and banker, officers found more than 500 wraps of heroin hanging from a bush in her garden. Judge John Roberts, sitting at Liverpool Crown Court, jailed them all for their role in the conspiracy.

Rs 3.83 cr
Worth of drugs that Matthew Mayor hurled out his speeding car in an attempt to escape the cops

Rs 1 crore
Amount Carol Whitney, the matriarch had in her account despite being on benefits

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