Members of a county lines gang that used children to sell heroin and crack cocaine have been jailed for modern slavery and drugs offences.
County lines is a drug dealing ring across county borders that utilises mobile phones and often exploits children to carry the drugs.
Ryan Wall, 24, was the ringleader of the ‘Bones line’, which exploited at least three teenage boys to supply large quantities of Class A drugs to users in Blackpool.
The children selected for this operation were living in homes for at-risk people and were considered ‘high risk’. The boys had been reported missing by their families and were being directed by Wall to supply drugs.
Wall was assisted in the criminal enterprise by Christopher Thornton, 20, Claire Daniels, 36, and Leigh Sledden, 38.
The Bones line, which was operated mainly from Tameside, Greater Manchester, and occasionally Merseyside, would send bulk messages to customers in Blackpool advertising its supply.
It ran between February and April last year – beginning shortly after Wall and Thornton had been released from prison.
In March 2020, Wall and Thornton began recruiting children to join the operation, with text messages and telephone records showing frequent contact between the gang and three teenage boys.
Wall and Thornton exploited the vulnerability of these young people and their unstable living conditions to coerce them into selling drugs.
Daniels would transport the boys to Blackpool with instructions on where to sell, while Sledden, who lived in the town, would allow them to stay at his home and use it as a base to deal from.
The gang was caught after sending bulk advertising messages to undercover detectives and test purchases were made by officers investigating supply in the area.
On 23 April 2020, following Wall’s arrest, police discovered Thornton had been operating a second line, called the ‘Trigga line’, assisted by Daniels.
In May 2020, Thornton was arrested hiding in a garden after crashing his car and fleeing during a police pursuit.
The four dealers pleaded guilty to their involvement in the county lines operation in September 2021 and were sentenced today at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court
