Issue. 43 - May 2018
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Inside this issue: Visit Guide 2018 - weddings
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‘Carlos’ drugs gang
sentenced to almost a century in jail
Appeal after bowling alley attack
Police are re-appealing for information following a serious assault at a bowling complex in Blackburn. Police were called around 5.40pm on March 10 following reports a security guard had been attacked in Tenpin Bowling at Peel Leisure and Retail Park. Officers attended and found a 20-year-old man at the scene suffering injuries to his face and jaw. Detectives believe the victim was working close to a cash machine when he was assaulted by another man, knocking him to the floor. He was then punched twice to the face, leaving him with a broken jaw which required treatment at Royal Blackburn Hospital. The attacker was restrained by a member of staff and then got into a light coloured saloon car and drove off. Police first appealed for information about the incident on social media in
March. Following CCTV enquiries, police are keen to identify this man, pictured in the white t-shirt, in connection with the assault. Det Con Tony Roberts, of Lancashire Police, said: “We are continuing to investigate a serious assault in Blackburn. “The victim was been left with some nasty injuries and we want to find the person responsible. “If you recognise the man in the CCTV footage, please contact us immediately.” If you know the man pictured or have any information about the attack, please call us on (01254) 353601 or if you fail to get an answer, 101, quoting incident reference 1158 of March 10.
Members of a Blackpool gang which infiltrated the seaside resort with Class A drugs have been sentenced to almost a century in jail. Fronted by Christopher Nimbley, 37, of Wordsworth Street, Liverpool, the ‘Carlos’ gang smuggled heroin and crack cocaine into the town from the Merseyside area. Six people appeared at Preston Crown Court on Tuesday 1 May, where they were sentenced following a complex investigation. Amongst them was Nimbley and his ‘lieutenants’ Jeffrey Dillon, 24 of Inglewhite, Skelmersdale and Bradley Dillon, 20, of Lea Crescent, Ormskirk – who were also sentenced following their conviction for the rape of a vulnerable woman. They received the most significant sentences, totalling 85 years. The operation which cracked the gang - codenamed Operation Lawson – began in November 2016 and quickly established that OCG boss Nimbley, who pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, was running a mobile phone which drug users would call to then be directed to another number for a street dealer. Undercover surveillance showed that the Dillons were both using the dealer number before any hand to hand drug exchanges took place. The arrest of a local drug user in January 2017 seemed to force Nimbley to move back to Liverpool and leave the Dillon brothers in charge of the Blackpool operation. Detectives overseeing the operation soon learned that more people were involved and that with Nimbley’s relocation, the drugs gang was operating on more of a ‘county lines’ model using vulnerable people to work as runners, delivering drugs and money, coordinated through a phone relay system. ‘Lines’ refers to the mobile phone numbers the gangs use to sell drugs. On Friday 3 February 2017 drugs warrants were executed at a flat on Clevedon Road, Blackpool where Jeffrey Dillon, Bradley Dillon, and James Rothwell, 28, of Hallcroft, Skelmersdale were arrested for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. Numerous phones were seized as well
(Top L to R: Christopher Nimbley, Bradley Dillon, Jeffrey Dillon. Bottom L to R: Kerry Smith, Mark Ansell, James Rothwell)
as digital scales and a small amount of cannabis and spice. The scales were later found to contain traces of cocaine, heroin and cannabis. James Rothwell was yesterday jailed for five years and six months for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. A further drugs warrant was then conducted at a flat on Derby Road where mobile phones were seized along with plastic bags consistent with the supply of Class A drugs. The packaging was later found to contain traces of cocaine. A warrant was also executed at a flat on Mill Street, Toxteth, Liverpool where gang boss Nimbley was living. He was not present at the address but documentation and identification was seized that linked him to the premises. Items recovered from the flat were forensically examined which were confirmed to have Christopher Nimbley’s fingerprints on. Also seized from the premises was a large amount of loose brown powder – 14 grams of 29% purity heroin - and two large white crack cocaine rocks valued at around £10,000. The haul also contained scales, packaging, tick lists, mobile phones and a chopping board which contained scratch marks and was covered in small chips of
white rock, consistent with producing crack cocaine. Other arrests and seizures followed in the following days. The investigation uncovered that Mark Ansell, 42, of Lindbeck Drive, Blackpool would drive Nimbley to Toxteth in Liverpool at least three times a week to collect drugs. Yesterday Ansell was jailed for four years for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. Also sentenced was Kerry Smith, 30, of Cunliffe Road, Blackpool. She was given a four year and two week prison term for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs for her role in dealing the drugs. Christopher Nimbley remained outstanding but following a media appeal on Tuesday 5 September 2017, he was located and arrested at an address in Liverpool. Also found at the premises was a suitcase containing over £2,000 as well as digital scales. The complex investigation run by Lancashire Constabulary led to the recovery of evidence that revealed the principal members of the crime gang – Nimbley, Jeffrey Dillon and Bradley Dillon - were not just involved in the supply of heroin and cocaine. A number of mobile telephones had been seized and were submitted for
forensic examination. Mobile phone evidence obtained from the seize revealed a woman, who appeared to be unresponsive throughout and was clearly intoxicated, had been sexually assaulted and raped. Detectives later identified the woman, who had not consented to the sexual activity, and had no recollection of the incident. Nimbley and the Dillon brothers were arrested on suspicion of rape. On Thursday 9 November 2017, following a three week trial at Preston Crown Court, Nimbley and Bradley Dillon were found guilty of rape and sexual assault and Jeffrey Dillon was found guilty of rape. Nimbley has been sentenced to seven years for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, 25 years for rape with an extended five year licence and five years for sexual assault. Bradley Dillon was sentenced to three years for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, 14 years for rape and five years for sexual assault. Jeffrey Dillon was handed four years for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and 22 years with a five year extended licence for rape. Nimbley and the Dillon brothers will serve their sentences concurrently.