Warsop dealer carried on selling cocaine for seven months after he was first caught red-handed'

Kevin Nussey was arrested when armed police stopped a white BMW and found him and two accomplices with a large amount of the class A drug and cash, on October 14, 2019.

Prosecutor James Varley described how Nussey was 'undoubtedly the leading player' in the 24-hour-a-day service which saw half a kilo of cocaine delivered from Liverpool.

He also recruited a younger teenager, who made a video of himself cutting and packaging the drug, which he sent to customers.

Nussey was arrested again in May 2020, after his bad driving aroused suspicion, and police found 19 grams of cocaine on him, along with bycarbonate of soda for cutting the drug and £1,000 in cash.

"After his arrest he had been bang at it, dealing thousands and thousands of pounds of cocaine," Mr Varley said.

Nottingham Crown Court also heard of a violent altercation in Warsop in January 2020, which was sparked when Nussey's outdoor jacuzzi was punctured.

A teenager was bundled into a car, Mr Varley said, and Nussey, along with others, forced his way into a house on Princess Avenue, Warsop.

Barrister Andrew Wesley said Nussey 'clearly applied himself to this scheme' between September 2019 and May 2020, but 'others took advantage of his vulnerability’.

"He has paid the price," he said. "He has had to be distant from family. For the last two years he has been working and living properly. He has no interest in returning to this lifestyle."

Sentencing Nussey, now 21, of High Street, Edwinstowe, Judge Stuart Rafferty QC told him: "Not only have you crossed the bridge – you have set fire to it."

At the same hearing on Wednesday, Benjamin Hoyland, 24, of Logan Street, Bulwell, received two years, suspended for two years, after admitting his role in the conspiracy to supply drugs.

Nathan Holmes, 22, of Walesby Lane, Ollerton, who admitted supplying cannabis, received 12 months, suspended for two years, and an 18-month community order.

Judge Rafferty said: "The town of Warsop is well known to this court for drug abuse and anti-social behaviour and people who think they can do whatever they want. They are wrong.”

He said while delays were ‘undoubtedly’ caused by lack of resources and the pandemic, he also blamed 'the persistence of local police forces releasing people under warning and then cheerfully forgetting about the investigation’.

He said the affray was the 'tip of the iceberg' under which a 'well-established drug enterprise' was run by Nussey, but the three defendants charged with affray weren’t connected to it.

Connor Bower, 21, of Day Street, Warsop, Amie Ball, 28, of Maples Avenue, Mansfield Woodhouse, and Kieran Roberts, 30, of Elkesley Road, Meden Vale, all received two year community orders for their roles in the affray, which they admitted at earlier hearings. Bower must also attend 20 rehabilitation days and a six-month drug programme.