Coke Baron Whose Gang Supplied Police Officer Jailed For 14 Years

[GemMan 96]

Coke Baron Whose Gang Supplied Police Officer Jailed For 14 Years

 

 

A drugs baron whose gang supplied a serving police officer with cocaine has been jailed for 14 years. 

 

John Whyte, 47, was part of a cocaine ring which was cracked when police launched an investigation into Detective Sergeant Paul Thompson in 2010.

Thompson, who once worked as an undercover test purchase officer with the drugs squad, was cleared of being a dealer after a trial.

But the 45-year-old, who had been based at Sunderland's Gill Bridge police station, was fined after being found guilty of three charges of possession of cocaine.

The former officer had admitted buying the class A drug after he developed a habit following the death of his mother.

Jurors at his trial accepted he and his wife had been selling a herbal based Viagra substitute to friends, not cocaine as prosecutors had alleged.

After the trial last year the supply gang members, including Thompson's brother, were given jail sentences totalling 30 years.

At Newcastle Crown Court Whyte, of Millwood, Chilton, County Durham, who a separate jury found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine, brought the total to 44 years.

Judge Simon Hickey said Whyte, who was given a 10 year sentence for dealing heroin in 2003, was a "sophisticated and cunning" man who was heavily involved in bulk buying and selling cocaine.

The judge said: "Police came across this business when they started looking at the affairs of a serving police officer, who is transpired had been using cocaine from his own brother, who was a member of the organisation."

Thompson had resigned from the force when the dealing allegations were made against him.

Thompson was fined £1,000 for drug possession and a charge of misconduct in public office which jurors convicted him of in relation to using police computers to access details on people he knew.

The disgraced officer was just one of the customers of the Ponteland based crime gang headed by brothers Stephen and David Wood, who supplied to his brother Brian Thompson.

At the hearing last year Stephen Wood, 49, of Thornhill Road, Ponteland, was jailed for 12 years, David Wood, 52, of Silver Lonnen, Fenham, Newcastle, was jailed for eight years, Brian Thompson, 51, of Thorneford Place, Ponteland, was jailed for six years and courier Stephen Burdett, 38, of Armington Road, Tamworth, was jailed for four years.

They had all admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine after police set up a surveillance operation into Paul Thompson. The officer and the drugs gang were arrested after police raided Stephen Wood's home and found 4kg of compressed cocaine powder.

Investigations showed the gang had delivered cocaine worth £1m to buyers in the North East over a 14 month period.

Police found £160,000 in Brian Thompson's wardrobe which he had been hoarding for the Wood brothers.

Detective Chief Inspector Lisa Orchard said after the hearing: "During Operation Trojan we established Whyte was instrumental in organising the transportation and supply of cocaine into the North East.

"He was a key player in this organised crime group and this conviction shows wherever in the country criminals are operating, we will target them."

The Special Crime Division of the CPS in partnership with Northumbria Police will be seeking a Serious Crime Prevention Order against Whyte which places restrictions on his lifestyle when he is released.

This can include limitations on the number of phones he can own, how much money he is allowed to carry and restrictions on the number of bank accounts he could have.