Liam Duffy, who is serving a 20 year sentence for the killing of a Liverpool teenager, helped run a heroin operation worth £4.6m from his jail cell, a court has heard.
Three members of a drugs gang appeared at Norwich Crown Court after police smashed a conspiracy organised by Duffy, who is in jail in Rochdale for his part in the revenge killing of 19-year-old gang leader Liam Smith in 2006.
The court heard that the conspiracy came to light after officers from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU) stopped a van in Norwich and recovered 2kg of heroin with an estimated street value of up to £200,000.
Following the find, in August 2014, Tony Rimmer and Carl Fairfield, both from Liverpool, and Rocky Gamble, from Norwich, were arrested and charged with conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
Their arrests prompted an investigation which uncovered mobile phone evidence that Rimmer and Fairfield were involved in bringing heroin from Liverpool to Norfolk in an operation which the prosecution say was organised by Duffy, using banned mobile phones, while in prison.
William Carter, prosecuting, said: “This was a conspiracy to supply heroin, including the transport of a large quantity of heroin from Liverpool to Norwich for onward distribution.”
Mr Carter said that at no stage did Duffy have any physical contact with the drugs as he was a serving prisoner, but used his mobile phones to contact both the Liverpool end of the operation and the one in Norwich.
He said: “He is the individual who is putting the two ends, Liverpool and Norwich together. He was the common link. The Crown say he was organising matters.”
Duffy, 35, who appeared via video link from prison, has admitted conspiracy to supply class A drugs, but denies he played an organising role. Rimmer, 30, formerly of Petherick Road, and Fairfield, 39, formerly of Totnes Road, both Croxteth, admitted conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
Liam Duffy, who was convicted of the manslaughter of Liam Smith
Mr Carter said that Rimmer and Fairfield were at the Liverpool end of the operation and they played “significant roles” by delivering the drugs to Norfolk and then picking up the cash for payment.
He said that Fairfield would use hire vehicles to drive to Norfolk to make the deliveries.
In final raid in Norwich in August 2014 police recovered £39,825 in cash.
Another defendant Rocky Gamble of Avenue Road, Norwich, who has also admitted conspiracy to supply Class A, will be sentenced at a later date.
Duffy was convicted of manslaughter in 2007 following a trial over the 2006 killing of Liam Smith, a prominent member of the Norris Green-based Strand gang.
Mr Smith was shot dead outside Altcourse prison in August 2006 as part of an ongoing feud between the Strand gang and the rival Croxteth Crew.
The sentencing hearing has been adjourned and there will also be a further hearing to decide Duffy’s basis of plea.
(Proceeding)
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/