North Nottinghamshire cocaine conspirators jailed

Raymond Marshall (47) of Gibson Green, Witham St Hughs, near Lincoln, and 44-year-old Sean Turley, formerly of Oakcroft, Kirton, were sentenced to ten and nine years in prison respectively in September 2013 after being convicted of possession of cocaine with intent to supply.

However, reporting restrictions on the case were not lifted until Marshall’s former partner Katie Lewin was given a 56-day community order and curfew at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday (17 February 2014).

Lewin (32) originally faced the same charge but that was dropped and she instead admitted offences of concealing criminal property and allowing her home to be used to produce a controlled drug.

The case dates back to October 2007 when Nottinghamshire Police raided the Cyclone Chroming factory in Tuxford after receiving intelligence that drugs were being stored and supplied from there.

The operation resulted in the arrests of Marshall and Turley at the scene. Turley had attempted to flush an estimated 1kg of cocaine down the toilet as police entered the building.

An additional 500g of cocaine was found elsewhere in the building in differing quantities, ranging in purity from 11 per cent to 77 per cent. Police also found 27kg of substances used to bulk out the cocaine and increase the amount that the two men could sell to increase their profits.

Searches of the homes of Marshall, then living in Newark, and Lewin, in nearby Caunton, found additional bulking agents and £17,000 in cash.

A drugs expert’s assessment of the haul put its potential street value at £1.75m.

Due to a series of legal issues and postponements the case was finally heard in Birmingham in 2013.