Telford drugs pair caught by own CCTV

Cameras were trained on the front and rear gardens at the address in the heart of Brookside for the couple to monitor who was approaching their home.

It was video footage recovered by police – extracts of which were shown in court – that provided compelling evidence of a lucrative eight-year business supplying crack cocaine and heroin on the estate.

The camera at the rear shows a raised decking area leading down to a garage and the rear gate through which customers are seen to emerge before an exchange of cash and drugs takes place.

Drugs appear to be hidden in various locations in the garden and in the garage in anticipation of the deal being completed.

Footage was also shown of the couple in the small front garden during which Campbell is seen "sweeping" the path.

Patterson is also there and is seen to pick up a small package – said to be cash – that was dropped into the garden by a customer as he walks past the house.

The item is handed to Campbell and a short time later a drug "deal" was placed on top of the gate post which is collected by the customer.

Further footage from the rear of the house shows Patterson standing on the decking and welcoming a punter who turns up at the rear gate where an exchange is made.

On other occasions Campbell is seen checking specific areas in the garden and entering the garage when drugs are due to be handed over.

The CCTV material was recovered in September 2013 during Operation Sift – a wider inquiry into drug dealing across the Telford area – and was seen in court during Campbell's trial in July this year.

Campbell, a care worker, claimed to have no knowledge of the sale of drugs from her home and suggested she and Patterson – her long-time boyfriend – were not a couple and she had little to do with him.

But the footage had showed them together as a couple as they left and returned to the Brookside property over several weeks.

Patterson came to the UK from Jamaica in 2000 and had worked in a garage and a restaurant. Despite his drug dealing he did not have an extravagant life-style and is likely to be repatriated back to Caribbean when released from prison.

Patterson was said to have "drifted" into the conspiracy and monies had been sent to support family in Jamaica.

There was no extravagant life-style and he had been in shared accommodation and had there had been a sub-tenants at his flat.

It was said he had "limited understanding" of the impact of his activity on the community.

His friend Courtney Hamilton had been a district special constable in Jamaica and had served in the Army in the UK before being discharged and then working as a labourer.

He had been a "trusted employee" for Patterson and had often been left to "mind the shop" when Patterson was away.

The pair were on the police radar as potential dealers and it emerged that the Burford address was a possible source of the supply of drugs in the area.

Officers watched another Brookside couple Garry Warren and Nicola Firth, who lived at nearby Blakemore and were known addicts and street dealers.

To feed their own habit the pair acted as couriers, riding the estate on mountain bikes to fetch and carry drugs and cash.

An undercover officer, known only as Tony, moved in and made contact with Firth and Warren and was soon a "trusted" customer. As such he was given mobile numbers to contact Patterson and Hamilton directly to set up deals.

He was sold crack cocaine and heroin and Hamilton was captured on film approaching Tony and handing over drugs in the alley at the side of Patterson and Campbell's address.

Detectives were later able to match calls on mobile phones operated by Patterson and Hamilton with the CCTV clips recovered from the Burford address.

Numerous phone calls are received minutes before people were seen making brief visits to the house, often through the rear garden.

Campbell was said to be present for most of the drug deals – and had even answered the phone on occasions.

Following the defendants' arrest in September 2013, police delved into Patterson and Campbell's financial status and discovered various amounts of cash – about £270,000 in total – had been regularly sent to dozens of people in Jamaica dating back more than eight years.

More than 100 people have now been convicted and jailed for drug dealing in north Shropshire following a series of extensive covert West Mercia Police investigations over the past four years.

Heroin, crack cocaine and cannabis, with street values running into millions of pounds, were peddled on estates in and around Telford and Shrewsbury on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, a sophisticated smuggling operation based at a Market Drayton wholesale flower business was bringing hundreds of kilos of cannabis into the county.

Widespread community concerns about street drug dealing, backed up by police intelligence, prompted officers of the Serious Organised Crime Unit to target criminal activity in the Brookside, Hadley and Wellington areas of Telford and Harlescott Grange and Castlefields in Shrewsbury, codenamed Operation Sift and Operation Active.

The sentencing yesterday of Sharon Campbell and her boyfriend Garfield Patterson, along with three other people, brings to an end the long-term drugs investigation.

Detective Inspector Gavin Kinrade, who led the Operation Sift inquiries, said it had covered offences linked to conspiracy to supply heroin, crack cocaine and other controlled drugs, conspiracy to steal and money laundering. He said that officers were involved in determining the "chain of command" above the level of the known street dealers.

As a result the inquiry was split into two major arrest phases as several groups were identified – both Campbell and Patterson in Brookside, an organised crime gang involved in drugs and running a car-ringing operation across Telford, and several other groups of dealers centred in the Hadley and Wellington areas.

"The sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday concludes a complex investigation into a large number of individuals and the inquiry team worked tirelessly to bring the defendants to justice," said DI Kinrade.

"We are committed to protecting our communities from harm, and by putting an end to sophisticated operations like these, we are preventing criminals from targeting vulnerable members of our society," he added.

At a previous crown court hearing it was revealed that during Operation Active, the offices of Phoenix Cars, a car rental business based in Shrewsbury, was bugged by police.

It provided both audio and video evidence of the extensive drug dealing conspiracy led by Phoenix Cars owner Jonathan Rochford and his henchman Scott Dodd, which also involved more than 30 men and women from Telford and Shrewsbury, who were selling Class A drugs supplied by criminal gangs in the Manchester and Merseyside areas.

Officers from the Serious and Organised Crime Unit were also involved in an inquiry into a £7 million conspiracy involving 10 men to smuggle large quantities of cannabis into Shropshire from Holland three years ago.

Records from Western Union identified Campbell as the source of a series of cash transfers, often using her maiden name of Roden.

Inquiries showed there were a number of common recipients – including four people with the surname Roden who were identified as Campbell's sister and three of her brothers. Others were said to be associates of her relatives, cousins and friends.

Patterson and Hamilton had also been recorded sending cash. Later local addicts Emma Buxton and Sukesh Shemar were recruited by Campbell to help with moving the money out to the Caribbean and had made frequent trips to Western Union offices.

During the period undercover officer Tony was active in Brookside Patterson had twice directly supplied him with drugs.

Hamilton had contact on 17 occasions and Firth 11 times and Warren had completed 15 drug deals, but it was clear supplies were all coming from Campbell's home where drugs were stashed.

Names of people receiving monies in Jamaica kept reappearing and often false names or identities were used when sums under £1,000 were transferred.

Inquiries showed Shemar had been used to send more than £72,000and Buxton had been involved in sending around £36,000.

Campbell herself had transferred around £57,000 and Patterson a further £37,000 and a further £66,000 had been sent under other names to Sharon Rhoden– Campbell's maiden name – in Jamaica.

Financial investigators revealed that there was no legitimate source for about £158,000 that had passed through various accounts held by Campbell and that she had paid a £20,000 deposit to purchase the Brookside property.

While Patterson and Hamilton admitted their role in the drug dealing Campbell had denied the allegations and said that she was not involved.

During her trial in July Campbell tried to suggest money in her accounts was from her employment as a care worker and that, unknown to Patterson, she had been working as an escort and getting paid to have sex with clients at her home or at hotels.

However, she was unable to identify any hotel she had used and, as had been suggested by the prosecution, the jury clearly decided she had fabricated the story and was fully involved in the supply of drugs over a number years.

Efforts by West Mercia Police to trace the money is under way and to determine the criminal benefit to each of the defendants. Any failure to hand over available assets could lead to further time in prison.

Confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act are not expected to be heard until later next year.

Also sentenced in court yesterday were Emma Buxton, 30, of Malcolm Davies Drive in Trench, Telford, and Sukesh Kumar Shemar, 40, of Turreff Avenue in Donnington, also Telford.

The pair were addicts and were recruited to make money transfers to Jamaica and had admitted charges of money laundering.

Buxton was given an 18-month sentence, but was released having served the sentence while on remand.

Shemar, a residential health care worker, was given an 18-month sentence suspended for three years and must complete 150 hours' unpaid work.