A thug jailed in connection with the murder of Rhys Jones is back behind bars after joining a £1 million drugs cartel just months after being freed.
Gary Kays was yesterday locked up for his role in the plan to flood the north of England with “high purity” cocaine and cannabis.
Kays, 31, from Liverpool, was given three years and five months after he admitted conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.
In 2008, he got seven years for helping gunman Sean Mercer cover his tracks after the shooting of schoolboy Rhys.
He was released from prison in 2011, and within weeks was seen driving around Merseyside in a £30,000 Mercedes.
Kays was arrested again in February last year after a painstaking year-long undercover police sting, code named Operation Skyhawk.
Sentencing him at Teesside crown court, Judge Crowson told Kays: “Your involvement was a vital one, enabling the drugs deal to take place.
“Your offending was after you had been released on licence for a serious offence of a different character.
“Although you have a record of previous offending, those offences which involved drugs were limited to possession of cannabis, resulting in the imposition of fines.
“You have served a significant prison sentence but in relation to a very different albeit serious offence.”
The “well-organised”, nine-man gang was run by Timothy Lister, 40, from Consett, Co Durham. members from Tyneside, Yorkshire, Manchester and Liverpool were jailed for a total of 61 years and two months.
Many of those involved in the conspiracy now face having all of their assets confiscated through Proceeds of Crime Act legislation.
Police made three separate seizures of one kilo consignments of almost pure cocaine during the operation.
Durham Police found 3.1kg of cocaine with a potential market value of £810,000, 23.9kg of cannabis resin with a value of £30,700 and £125,000 in cash.
The gang had 91% pure cocaine, which alone would be enough for 5,000 individual deals and have a retail value of £300,000.
Prosecutor Adrian Strong told Judge Howard Crowson seizures showed the gang was “at, or very near, the top of the supply chain”.
Lister - jailed for six-and-a-half years in 2008 for cannabis and money laundering - directed operations.
Mr Strong told the court: “He used his contacts to arrange for the buying and selling of wholesale amounts of drugs.
"He had the direct links to key players. “He oversaw the activities of the Durham end of the business and, like any other director, largely kept his hands clean.
“The amounts of cocaine, the packaging into one kilo units, and the high purity tell you one thing - they were wholesalers.
“It didn’t involve itself in diluting the cocaine to sell to users or break down the packages into the one gramme wraps sold on the street.
“This was an organisation that was buying and selling high-quality, large amounts, of drugs to the trade - virtually pure product in bulk.”
Richard Brown and Christopher Young were money couriers, and each were caught with almost £50,000 - the cost of a kilo of cocaine.
After the case, Det Insp Nicola Lawrence of Durham Police said: “We are naturally very pleased.
"This is an excellent result and vindicates the enormous amount of work which went into this operation, which took almost 12 months to plan and then put into place.
“Four years ago, we launched Sledgehammer - a continuing commitment to tackling organised crime in our area.
"Since then scores of criminals who considered themselves beyond the reach of law have been arrested, charged and convicted.
“Anyone tempted to engage in a criminal lifestyle should be aware we will target them ruthlessly and put them out of business.”
Brown, 47, of Leeds, was jailed for two years, and Young, 35, of Manchester, were locked up for one year and eight months. David Lewins, 40, Alan Taylor, 42, and Sam Turnbull, 37, all from Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham, were also jailed.
Lewins got two years, Taylor nine years and nine months, and Turnbull 11 years and two months.
Lister was given 16 years after he was found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.
Ian McCabe, 43, of High Pittington, Co Durham, got five years and four months; and Stephen Golding, 33, from Liverpool, received five years and six months.
Michael Hudson, 30, of Gateshead, and David Halliday, 39, from Chester-le-Street, Co Durham, were given suspended prison sentences.
Peter O’Neill, 55, from West Rainton, also Co Durham, received a community order.
Officers involved in the operation were praised in court.
Judge Crowson said they had “brought to an end a significant drugs trafficking group” and “caused substantial disruption to drugs trade”.