A CHELTENHAM man has been jailed for his role in a drugs gang which plotted to supply £250,000 of cocaine into the county.
Mark Clemmens, 43, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison at Bristol Crown Court yesterday.
Clemmens, of Laxton Road in Hester's Way, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
The case centred around the supply of high purity cocaine from Birmingham and Worcester to Gloucester, with two quarter kilogram packages of the drug seized by police on the M5 in January and March 2012 as part of the investigation. Clemmens became involved with the drugs gang after racking up gambling debts of around £2,000, the court heard.
Lloyd Jenkins, defending Clemmens, told the judge: "My client entered a timely guilty plea and his involvement was shortlived. This was clearly out of character and his involvement resulted from gambling debts after the death of his father and grandfather."
Five other men were sentenced alongside him, all for the same charge.
Patrick James 'PJ' Maguire, of Thomas Stock Gardens in Abbeymead, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years.
The 41-year-old notorious criminal was said to be the ringleader of the gang.
Maguire's brother, Christopher Maguire, 48, of Tredworth Road in Gloucester, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison.
Carl Bonfield, 32, of Trident Boulevard, Castle Vale, Birmingham was jailed for five years.
John Hetherington, 38, of Wheat Mill Close in Blakedown, Worcester, was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Mark Ellis, 50, formerly of Enborne Close in Tuffley, was jailed for three-and-a-half years.
All defendants had pleaded guilty apart from Christopher Maguire and Ellis, who were convicted after trial.
The court heard that Gloucestershire police officers went undercover to investigate the "highly sophisticated and large scale operation" to supply cocaine between January and August 2012.
In August, officers discovered three packages of cocaine in Castle Vale, Birmingham, at the home address of Bonfield.
After the sentencing, Detective Constable Gill Ardren said: "Maguire was the ringleader and controlling mind but preferred not to be hands on and used others to do his dirty work for him.
"It's a testament to the investigating team of officers that we were able to piece together enough surveillance, forensic and telephone evidence to back up the physical seizure of drugs and make such a compelling case against him.
"Maguire simply thought he was clever enough to get away with it but as we have shown quite comprehensively, he wasn't."
PJ Maguire smiled and waved at members of his family in the packed public gallery of the courtroom at the beginning of the sentencing. The court heard he had a "substantial record" for dishonesty and violence and was given an indeterminate sentence in 2007 for conspiracy to rob and possessing firearms.
On that occasion, he and others planned to rob a Matson post office in broad daylight with a loaded shotgun while many children and passers-by were in the area.
Yesterday, prosecuting barrister Simon Burns described a sophisticated cocaine supply network which was uncovered by officers in Operation Monitor.
He said: "Operation Monitor uncovered a well organised cocaine supply, an established enterprise which continued even after members of the gang were caught, in which consignments of the drug were transported down the M5 for distribution on the streets of Gloucester.
"PJ Maguire, the ringleader, made considerable effort to ensure he had no direct handling involvement.
"It was a highly sophisticated and large scale operation involving 70 to 75 per cent pure cocaine, presumably smuggled into the UK from South America."
The court heard that Heatherington had one previous conviction for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine, while Bonfield had convictions for violence and Ellis for dishonesty.
In May last year another man from Cheltenham was sentenced for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs in relation with the case. Lee Leather, 25, of Kingsbridge Mews, was jailed for 28 months.
Mathew Evans, 36, formerly of Bowly Road, Gloucester, was jailed for 42 months at the same time for the same charge.
OPINION, P8
