Details have been released about how police smashed a major cocaine gang in York.

The operation included months of surveillance, the skilled nose of a police dog, a stop and chase and the seizure of more than £10,000 drugs profits.

Undercover police watched as gangleaders Brett Vincent Lill and Ciaran James Angell took delivery in a car park on the outskirts of York of the cocaine brought to them from their supplier in Bury, Greater Manchester by Joshua Davenport.

Either Lill or Angell would appear and sit in Davenport's car for a minute or so before getting out and leaving the scene.

After repeatedly watching the transactions between January and June 2021, and how the cocaine was passed on to Michael David Fox for sale in York, detectives made their move on June 11.

After Davenport made a delivery in York, Lill and Angell drove off. But officers were waiting and stopped them.

Angell was arrested in the vehicle but Lill attempted to make off from the scene before he was swiftly detained. Whilst running, he had thrown a package into the undergrowth and with the help of a police dog and handler, this was quickly located, seized and later found to be cocaine.

Watch the chase, capture and the locating of the drugs here

 

Davenport’s vehicle was stopped and searched where officers found £5700 of cash, a mobile phone which had been used to contact Lill and Angell and he also tested positive for cocaine.

At Lill’s home there was a safe in the kitchen containing expensive watches and a further safe in the bedroom which contained more watches and cash. A drugs press was in the shed and in the house were instructions for chemical conversion of drugs, alongside a suspected debt list. Police found £4,800 at the home of Fox's mother Doreen Fox.

Find out what happened to the gang at court here

North Yorkshire Police Detective Constable Bev Hoban said: “This investigation has led to the conviction of an organised crime group who supplied cocaine into the communities of York and profited from doing so. The sentences will hopefully be a deterrent to others involved in drug dealing on the streets of York and North Yorkshire.

“Lill and Angell had been living a lifestyle beyond their means for a long time. They set up and operated businesses in York which we suspected had been financed through criminal gains from their drug dealing. We believe they used Michael Fox to deal on their behalf to keep themselves distanced from the street level supply, but still reap the financial rewards.

“We continue to need the support of our communities to be able to target criminals like this and stop them causing harm. If you have any information which you think would assist us in taking action against others dealing drugs in our neighbourhoods then please call 101 or report this via our website. If you prefer to remain anonymous you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”