Cocaine gang member loses legal bid to clear his name after being jailed for seven years

A member of a drugs gang jailed in total for more than a century has lost his bid to clear his name.
By Gavin Ledwith
Published 6th Apr 2020, 06:00 BST
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Ryan Johnson, 26, of The Tilery, Shotton Colliery, was one of 17 people locked up at the end of a four-year Durham Police operation to disrupt Class A dealing in East Durham.

Johnson was last month one of five prisoners to launch a joint appeal against their 2018 convictions for conspiring to supply cocaine.

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They all “argued that there was no evidence of a common intention or purpose which involved them and their alleged co-conspirators”.

Drug-dealing plotter Ryan Johnson, left, has lost his legal bid at the Court of Appeal right, to have his conviction quashed.Drug-dealing plotter Ryan Johnson, left, has lost his legal bid at the Court of Appeal right, to have his conviction quashed.
Drug-dealing plotter Ryan Johnson, left, has lost his legal bid at the Court of Appeal right, to have his conviction quashed.

But, after reserving judgement owing to the complexities of their combined case, three Court of Appeal judges have now decided that Johnson’s conviction was safe and he will remain behind bars for seven years.

Two other prisoners have also lost their bids, a fourth has been cleared and the fifth has been granted more time to finalise his defence.

Robert Anderson, 45, of D’Arcy Court, Hendon, Sunderland, described at his Teesside Crown Court trial as one of the gang’s ring leaders, lost separate appeals against both his conviction and his 10-year sentence.

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Andrew Belford, 33, of Londonderry Street, Silksworth, Sunderland, remains behind bars for seven years.

Paul Casey, 45, of North View, Castletown, Sunderland, who was also jailed for seven years, has had his conviction overturned.

Darren McBride, 34, of Pauls Green, Hetton, who was locked up for 10 years, has been granted extra time to prepare his legal fight against his conviction.

All five were jailed in January 2019 for plotting to supply cocaine after a six-week trial at the end of 2018.

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Quantities of cocaine and ecstasy, more than £100,000 in cash and hydraulic presses used to press cocaine into bricks were seized as part of a series of raids on properties in

South Hetton, Easington Lane, New Herrington, Sunderland, South Shields and Washington.

Detective Chief Inspector Nicola Lawrence, who led the Operation Sidra investigation, which started back in 2014, said afterwards: “We have been able to disrupt and destroy this

particular network who thought they could get away with blighting their communities through their illicit trade.”