Gang members jailed for almost 100 years over gun and drug trafficking

A drugs kingpin who sparked a global manhunt has been jailed for 24 years after masterminding an upsurge in firearms crime as he tried to smuggle hard drugs into Nottingham.  

Craig Moran – the leader of a Bestwood organised crime group – was among 10 defendants jailed today (14 August) for almost 100 years following a chilling crimewave that prompted a major police investigation.

Launched in 2017, Operation Encyclic probed an upsurge in drug and gun-related crime in and around the Bestwood estate.

The investigation linked various incidents to Moran, who upon his release from prison for previous crimes was arranging the delivery of guns and significant quantities of drugs into Nottingham.

Nottingham Crown Court heard the investigation was launched when a sawn-off shotgun was discovered in a raid on a house in Leybourne Drive in Bestwood in October 2017.

DNA found on the weapon helped police uncover a major drugs and weapons line between Manchester and Nottingham. This included Moran, who headed up the Nottingham operation and Jodie Danson, who ran the operation in Salford.

A month later, officers recovered two handguns inside a car abandoned in Morrell Bank in Bestwood – close  to the home of Moran’s cousin, Callum Sims.

In April 2018, police executed a warrant at Wendling Gardens in Bestwood, the home of Lee Hudson, Moran's nephew. Officers found 58 cannabis plants, cannabis in bags, and growing equipment. There was also £13,000 in cash, a cash counting machine, two encrypted mobile phones and 131 rounds of ammunition.

East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) were brought in and started to build up a picture of what was happening.

It was becoming increasingly obvious that Moran was the key player at bringing guns and drugs into the Bestwood area.

Throughout the investigation, police uncovered a significant number of courier trips between Manchester and Nottingham by Moran’s gang.

On July 19, 2018, police intercepted a vehicle near the M1, Junction 26, driven by Sims, where a JD Sports bag containing four kilos of cocaine and two kilos of heroin was recovered, with a street value of approximately £520,000.

Following the interception, Moran fled to Dover before making his way through France and Spain.

In Marbella, his criminal lifestyle caught up with him when he was shot through the hands and kneecaps and received a serious wound to his face.

Again, he made a run for it – this time to Dubai, where he wrongly thought Nottinghamshire Police would never find him.

Moran was hiding out, paying cash in hand, attempting to keep up a lavish lifestyle on borrowed time as his drugs empire was crumbling around him.

Craig Moran has been jailed for 24 years

Back in Nottinghamshire, detectives were busy dismantling his criminal gang one by one before they organised Moran’s arrest and extradited him back to the UK.

In March 2020, Dubai Special Forces entered his place of residence and handed the Bestwood criminal back to two Notts police officers waiting at the airport.

Moran, now aged 42 and formerly of Revelstoke Way, Rise Park, Nottingham, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transfer a prohibited weapon, conspiracy to supply Class A drugs (heroin and cocaine) and converting criminal property / money laundering.

Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court today for sentencing, he was jailed for 24 years.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Michael Auty KC said Moran was the leader of the Bestwood-based organised crime group, which he described as a “Premier League” level cartel.

He said Moran – who had not long been released from prison for being the getaway driver in an armed robbery that resulted in the murder of a jeweller – “chose to utilise trusted family and friends as much as possible” in the criminal enterprise and that he had been “confident he would never, ever be caught”.

The judge added the gang leader had again found himself back behind bars as he “could not resist the trappings of conspicuous wealth” upon his release from a previous custodial sentence.

Others defendants convicted and sentenced alongside Moran today include:

• Jodie Danson, 43, formerly of Edmund Street, Salford, Manchester, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess, purchase or acquire prohibited weapons without authority, conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of Class A, and conspiracy to supply a Class B controlled drug. Total sentence: 16 years.
• Callum Sims, 37, formerly of Morrell Bank, Bestwood, Nottingham, admitted conspiracy to transfer a prohibited weapon, conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and possessing a prohibited weapon for the discharge of a noxious liquid/gas/electrical incapacitation device. Total sentence: 14 years.
• Lee Hudson, 26, formerly of Wendling Gardens, Bestwood, Nottingham, admitted possessing ammunition without a firearms certificate, conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, producing Class B drugs, possessing Class B drugs with intent and possession of criminal property. Total sentence: 12 years.
• Dean Hudson, 25, of Totland Drive, Nottingham, admitted producing a Class B drug, possessing Class B drugs with intent and being involved in the criminal activities of an organised crime group. Further found guilty of possessing criminal property following a trial. Total sentence: Three years.
• John Newns, 43, of Asgard Drive, Salford, Manchester, admitted conspiracy to supply a Class B controlled drug and producing a Class B drug. Acquitted at trial of having any involvement in matters concerning Class A drugs and firearms. Total sentence: Three years and four months.
• Richard Jones, 51, formerly of Edgeware Road, Newton Heath, Manchester, admitted possession of ammunition without a certificate, possessing Class B drugs with intent to supply, possession of a Class A drug, possession of a Class B drug and two counts of possession of a firearm. Total sentence: Eight years.
• Darren Bexon, 39, formerly of Huggett Gardens, Top Valley, Nottingham, admitted conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, conspiracy to supply a Class B drug, conspiracy to produce a controlled drug of Class B and conspiracy to convert criminal property. Total sentence: 12 years.
• Craig Bailey, 35, of Watkins Avenue, Salford, Manchester, admitted to participating in criminal activities of an organised crime group. Total sentence: 15 months.
• Calum Kirk, 26, of Whitton Close, Bestwood, Nottingham, admitted conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and affray. Total sentence: Two years, suspended for two years.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Auty KC told the defendants they’d each been part of a “highly sophisticated criminal cartel” that was dedicated to “flooding the streets” of Nottingham and surrounding areas with vast quantities of cocaine, heroin and cannabis, which he said caused “misery, pain, suffering and more frequently than perhaps you perceive, death”.

He added: “But for the intervention of the authorities, I have no doubt this enterprise would still be running today.”

The judge further said several of the defendants could expect to be released imminently having already served their jail terms.

Following the sentencing hearing, Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:

“This was a massive undertaking by a very skilled and determined investigation team to dismantle a gang which was responsible for bringing large amounts of cocaine and heroin into Nottingham as well as firearms and ammunition.

“We had made great strides in Bestwood to rid the area of this type of activity and Moran and his gang were foolish to think they could bring it back.

“The hefty sentences given today are not only a testament to an impressive investigation carried out by the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, but also to the power of collaborative law enforcement on a national and international scale. 

“It serves as a strong warning to others who think they can run drugs operations in our city and county that we have all the investigative tools we need to take their so-called drugs empires away from them.

“This is not the end of this particular case. Through the Proceeds of Crime Act we will now seek to identify and seize any assets amounted from the running of this illicit enterprise, to ensure those responsible are not only stripped of their freedom, but also of any profits made through their criminal activities.”