Organised crime gang that supplied class-A drugs is dismantled as members jailed for more than 50 years

Members of an organised crime group (OCG) based in York and Tadcaster have been sentenced to a total of 54 years in jail for conspiracy to supply cocaine.

The network was taken apart during a large-scale operation by North Yorkshire Police’s Organised Crime Unit, which seized huge hauls of class-A drugs worth more than £50,000.

Several members have been jailed for a total of more than 40 years at Bradford Crown Court today, with another defendant being sent to prison for ten years at an earlier hearing.

During 2022 and 2023, they conspired to sell vast amounts of class-A drugs on North Yorkshire’s streets.

Gavin Tuohey, 46, of Tadcaster, was the head of the OCG and he would source large quantities of cocaine for onward supply to others further down the supply chain.

 

He was stopped by police as he travelled from Leeds to Tadcaster in a taxi and arrested.

He was carrying a kilogram block of high-purity cocaine with a street value of up to £43,000 in his rucksack.

Text messages recovered from mobile phones showed that Tuohey would threaten and intimidate other members of the OCG when they did not pay their debts for the cocaine he had supplied.

He was sentenced to nine years and three months at today’s court hearing after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply class-A drugs.

Rhys Morgan, 26, of Tadcaster, was Tuohey’s sidekick and regularly attended Tuohey’s home.

He deputised for Tuohey when he was on holiday and used a relative’s address as a stash house for drugs, which was situated in the row of terraced houses directly behind Tuohey’s home.

 

Morgan also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class-A drugs and was jailed for eight years today.

Jamal Lazrak, 29, of no fixed address, was one of Tuohey’s top contacts at the time. He made numerous quick-turnaround journeys between York and Tadcaster in two black Volkswagen Golfs.

 

Tuohey took one of the Golfs from Lazrak temporarily as a debt repayment. Lazrak was supplied with quantities of cocaine that could be broken down further for onward supply.

He was sent to prison for eight years, three months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply class-A drugs.

Max Haigh, 23, of York, was a drug-dealer who detectives linked to a number of addresses connected to the investigation.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class-A drugs and was today jailed for six years and four months.

 

Olivia Heppell, 27, York also used to carry drugs in quick-turnaround journeys between York and Tadcaster.

She admitted being a driver for an OCG member on frequent trips to collect cocaine and deliver drugs money.

 

She was given a two-year jail sentence, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to the same offence.

Luke Atkin, 37, was a regular drug customer of Tuohey’s and another downstream supplier of cocaine. He lived in Warrington, Cheshire, during the conspiracy period but made regular journeys to Tadcaster and York to meet other OCG members and deal drugs.

Atkin informed the court he would not be attending on the first day of trial and flew out of the UK. He remains outstanding and is wanted on warrant. A wanted appeal has been issued for any information that could lead to his arrest.

 

He was sentenced in his absence today to ten years in jail for conspiracy to supply class-A drugs.

And Luke Jenkins, 33, of Leeds, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing in March and was convicted of 10 years for conspiracy to supply class-A drugs after his fingerprints were found on the packaging.

Another defendant is due to be sentenced at a later date after police arrested him and found drugs with a potential street value of almost £6,500 secreted in his underwear.

A 33-year-old man was charged in connection with the conspiracy and pleaded guilty but died before he could be sentenced.

After today’s court hearing, Detective Constable Leah Kitchen, of North Yorkshire Police’s Organised Crime Unit, said: “This was a large and detailed investigation that led to an organised crime gang being dismantled, and in doing so we’ve stopped tens of thousands of pounds of high-purity class-A drugs hitting the streets.

“The key players have received significant prison sentences that reflect the seriousness of their crimes but also take them out of circulation for a number of years, which can only be a good thing for communities in Tadcaster and York.”