Bedford Drug Dealers Jailed

Police mounted a secret surveillance operation on a man they suspected of being a major drug supplier and discovered he had "two families."

 

Every morning Errol Brown would leave the home he shared with his wife Margaret their and two children and then take a stroll to the home nearby of his lover and the mother of his two other children.

 

A court heard Jamaican born Brown was providing for both women and the children with the proceeds of his drugs business - peddling cocaine and heroin on the streets of Bedford.

 

Luton crown court was told the other woman in Brown's life, Janice Saunders was one of a number of people he used to transfer his ill gotten gains out to relatives in Jamaica. Between April 2010 and January of this year more than £100,000 was sent in money transfers to Jamaica, where Brown was having a house built. Those 'employed' by Brown were often drug addicts themselves and were paid in Class A drugs.

 

Brown recruited people to go into local shops in Bedford to make the money transfers so as not to draw attention to himself. But today 43 year old Brown's dreams of enjoying a life in the sun lay in tatters as he began an 11 year jail sentence. He was jailed after pleading guilty to two charges of conspiring to supply cocaine and heroin and money laundering.

 

Judge Stuart Bridge told Brown of Milburn Road in Bedford that the profits from his evil trade had allowed him to "fund two families." The judge said "You were the principal mover and beneficiary." With him in the dock were eight other members of his gang.

 

Andrew Copeland prosecuting told how in July of 2012 Bedfordshire Police mounted a secret surveillance operation on Brown, who was suspected on being a major drug supplier in his home town of Bedford. He had already served a prison sentence for drug dealing and detectives suspected he had returned to his "previous occupation."

 

For two months officers were able to monitor his activities, watching his movements, who he met, the alleyway where he met associates, who was coming to his home and where he went every morning. That was to Delamere Walk in Bedford and the home of Saunders. Detectives discovered the 36 year old, who had divorced her first husband, had in fact given birth to two children by Brown and he was maintaining two families. They also discovered street dealers working for him were selling wraps of crack cocaine and heroin in Warwick Avenue in Bedford and would be supplied or "reloaded" by others who were higher up in the chain of command.

 

Brown even had a member of his gang acting as a 'chauffeur' to drive him wherever he wanted. In September of last year Bedfordshire Police arrested Brown and other members of his gang. Brown was bailed and, even then, continued to run his business.

 

Police discovered he was employing people including Saunders to send money to his relatives in Jamaica to finance the building of a house. She is thought to have personally sent out around £25,000 in money transfers to Jamaica.

 

In January of this year Brown was re-arrested along with other gang members who had been recruited by him following the arrests of others in his gang back in September. After Brown was led off to begin his 11 year sentence, Judge Bridge sentenced other members of the gang.

 

Ross Kirton, 39, of Devizes Avenue, Bedford, who pleaded guilty to the two charges of conspiring to supply cocaine and heroin and money laundering and who had been Brown's  "trusted" lieutenant, was jailed for four years.

 

Simon Campbell, 46, a cousin of Brown from Stafford Court, Riverside Close, Bedford who was convicted by a jury of the conspiracy to supply charges and money laundering, was jailed for four years. Just weeks before his arrest he had bought a Rolex watch paying £5,250 in cash.

 

Simon Willars, 40, of Bruthwaite Green, Bedford, a street dealer who was found guilty of the two charges of conspiracy to supply lass A drugs, was jailed for three years.

 

Richard Henderson, 35, another street dealer convicted by a jury of two offences of conspiring to supply cocaine and heroin, was jailed for three years.

 

Karl White, 34, a street dealer who pleaded guilty to the two conspiracy to supply charges from De Parys Avenue in Bedford, received an 18 month jail sentence which was suspended for two years.  He was also ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work.

 

Samantha Brydon, 47, and her partner Jeremiah Wilson, 34, both of Kempster Close in Bedford, who were each found guilty of money laundering, were each given a 12 month community order with supervision and made the subjects of a drug rehabilitation requirement.

 

Willson had sent more than £6,800 to Jamaica for Brown and Brydon had transferred more than £4,000. Janice Saunders of Delamere Walk in Bedford will be sentenced next month

 

Please note - All of the court copies are provided by South Beds News Agency, who retain the copyright© for all articles published.