Chapter 2: Marked With A Yellow Spot

Two weeks later Brian announced that the reports he had had, showed that there were two main areas that county line drug runners were coming from. One was Leigh, a town of fifty-two thousand population which is in the metropolitan borough of Wigan. It is part of Manchester, which is in Lancashire.

The other was Widnes, a town of fifty-seven thousand population which is in the borough of Halton. It is part of the county of Cheshire. Widnes is on the northern side of the river Mersey and has a bridge over the river to Runcorn with a population of sixty-two thousand. It’s a large town on the southern side. The local force had built up a picture of the vehicles and dealers crossing the county lines.

‘What I am proposing,’ Brian told them, ‘Is to put together two teams who will take up a base at a local nick. Those teams will have access to all the local information, plus they will be able to call on manpower assistance as needed.’

‘But they will operate independently and answer direct to me. Now I’m sure I don’t need to tell you we need to be diplomatic with the locals. We don’t want them to think we are swanning in, taking all their hard work and getting all the glory. Equally, we don’t want them getting too close in case at times we might be stretching the rules slightly.’ Here Reg noticed a brief grin on Aiden’s face.

‘Our plan,’ Brian said, ‘Will be to fit a trace to several of the vehicles suspected of collecting from main dealers. Once we have a few main dealers in our sights, we’ll try and use them to get a major supplier or importer. If we can nab them, the locals can pick up the lower ranks and get local credit. Then everyone will be happy.’

‘Have any of you got good local knowledge of either of the areas concerned?’ Brian asked. No one had so he said, ‘Ok, well here’s my list. Team one will be Aiden, Reg, Glenda and Peter. Team two will be Tommy Bell, Alan, Geoff and one other.’

‘That takes care of everyone from here, David, you’ll remain here as liaison between us all. I’ll ask the desk sergeant to find me a fourth member for team two. Team one will take Widnes and team two will take Leigh. Any questions?’ ‘I know a WPC stationed here who’d be happy to help out.’ Reg said.

‘Ok,’ Brian said, ‘We’ll all meet here in the morning for a final briefing before you go. Reg check with the WPC and tell her to be here in the morning. If she can’t do it for any reason, let me know right away. I’ll arrange digs for a week. Those of you who can stay for the week, team up for travel. Those who want to return occasionally for family visits, go in your own vehicles. Whichever way you work it I need each team to take two vehicles.’

‘Everything else is now on hold,’ he said, ‘The rest of the day is planning. Aiden, will you contact Tommy Bell, and I’ll see the two of you in my office as soon as possible.’ As soon as he left, Reg rang Celia. When she answered Reg said, ‘Hi, this is a work call. Are you available for a week’s secondment to the drugs squad, starting in the morning?’

She was delighted, ‘Wow, yes please!’ she said. ‘Ok I’ll get back to you as soon as I can with what you need to bring,’ he told her. ‘In the meantime, check with your section sergeant. Any problem, tell him to speak to DI Brian Johnson. Bye for now.’

The following day they all assembled in the office at eight o’clock. Reg introduced Celia to the team. It hadn’t gone unnoticed by Reg that Sergeant Bell, who was not part of the drugs squad, had been included. He recognised his name from the list of diners at the Manor Hotel.

After a briefing by Brian, the two teams set out to their new homes for the week. Aiden, Glenda and Peter where all staying the week, so they travelled in Aiden’s car. Sergeant Bell, Reg and Alan went in their own cars to provide extra vehicles.’

Arriving in Widnes they had been allocated an office in one of the smaller stations on the outskirts of town. A small hotel further down the street was their billet. The desk sergeant introduced himself as Keith then showed them to their office. ‘Good luck,’ he said as he left them to it.

They unloaded all their work kit into the office, picked tables and unpacked. Then Aiden said, ‘Ok, let’s pick up our personal gear and check into the hotel.’ When they reached the hotel, Aiden said, ‘Half an hour folks, then back to the office.’ The rooms were small but clean. Reg just dumped his bag on the bed to sort out later, then headed back to the station.

Computers had been set up for them, so Reg opened up and pulled up the information the local teams had amassed. Names, addresses and vehicle registration numbers of ten dealers throughout the area who were supplying small dealers.

Six were staying local but four were crossing into Merseyside. No one knew where the ten were getting their supplies from as the local force had been instructed not to follow any dealer once identified, so that they wouldn’t be spooked.

By the time the others returned from the hotel, Reg had a map of Widnes up on a board. He was in the process of pinning small cards with the dealer’s details on, onto the side of the board. From that he fixed a string from the card to a pin in the map on their address. He had used red string for the four who were crossing the border.

Amongst the information the local force had collected were the locations of any regular visits each one made. They were to things like probation, shops, employment office, even work for one of them. By the time everyone had settled at a desk, got online and of course had a coffee, Reg had completed his board.

‘Ok everyone,’ Aiden called, ‘Gather round the board.’ Everyone moved their chairs. As Reg went to move his, Aiden said, ‘Not you Reg. You have done the work, so you run us through who’s who and anything else you think we should know.’

Feeling chuffed, Reg stood to the side of the board. ‘There are ten dealers who are supplying smaller dealers,’ he told them, ‘Of those ten, four are shown as crossing the border too often to be doing anything other than drug running. Those are the four I assume we will prioritise to protect our own area.’ He looked at Aiden who nodded agreement.

‘We have details of their regular movements,’ Reg continued, ‘So our first task is to fit a trace to their vehicles.’ He was about to say without them knowing but stopped himself in time, obviously everyone knows that he thought. ‘There’s no hard and fast rule on how or where,’ he said. ‘The traces are small and highly magnetic.’

‘The four we are prioritising are... ‘

‘Liam Lewis. He is white, age twenty-eight and lives in Canterbury Road. This is a terraced house which he bought cash five years ago for eighty thousand pounds. He lives with his girlfriend and a son who is two. He is listed as a self-employed builder. He has a pickup truck which he leases, and his girlfriend has a mini which she owns in her own name.’

‘Dalton Ollerhead. He is a black African aged twenty-five. He lives in Clinton View in a semi-detached house which he bought six years ago for a hundred and thirty thousand pounds. Also paid in cash. He is married with two children. A son aged four and a daughter aged three. Unemployed and claiming benefit, he has an old Volvo estate.’

‘Milton Phillips is Chinese and aged forty. He lives in a semi-detached house in Chorley Lane, which he bought cash five years ago for a hundred and twenty thousand pounds. He is single, believed to be gay but that’s not confirmed. He is self employed as a business advisor. He has a two-year old Nissan Juke’

‘Aaron Ellis is white. aged thirty-four. He is single. He lives in Browning Avenue. It’s a terraced house that belongs to his widowed mother. It was bought cash seven years ago for a hundred thousand pounds. His mother had no savings or income to warrant such a purchase. Long term unemployed, he claims carers allowance for his mother. He has a one-year-old SsangYong estate bought with his mother’s disability allowance.’

‘Thanks, Reg.’ Aiden said standing up. ‘For today at least, Reg will you team up with Peter and see what you can do with Liam Lewis and Dalton Ollerhead.’