Drug gangs won’t benefit from ill-gotten gains after over £1.2m recovered

More than £1.2 million has been recovered from two gangs and leading suppliers who flooded Nottinghamshire’s streets with cocaine and heroin.

The so-called ‘Kinsella’ and ‘Eastwood’ organised crime groups and the dealers they used raised the vast sums of money by selling the Class A drugs.

Their activities directly resulted in more than ten kilos of cocaine and heroin making their way from other parts of the country and onto the county’s streets.

An extensive police investigation led to the criminal network being dismantled in April 2020 – bringing the groups’ seven-month drug dealing operations to an end.

Eighteen people would go on to be implicated in the drugs supply conspiracy, with the gang members and suppliers receiving a combined 166-year prison sentence in March 2023.

This included Kinsella group bosses Michael Kinsella and Jeffery Bradwell, and brothers Daniel, Lee and Dominic Wright, as well as Adam Rhodes, who all led the Eastwood gang.

Since last year’s sentencings, criminal proceedings have continued to ensure the funds generated from the gangs’ drug dealing were taken from them, under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

This concluded on Tuesday (1 October) at Nottingham Crown Court, with a massive £1,262,789.49 worth of cash and assets being recovered by the police.

As well as more than £700,000 in cash being recovered during the investigation, a number of high-value assets were also seized, including a five-bedroomed detached property in West Bridgford, which has since been sold. 

Under the Proceeds of Crime Act, money and assets confiscated from criminals are typically split between the Home Office, Crown Prosecution Service, the courts and the police. 

Despite this large quantity of cash being recovered, the confiscation proceedings identified that those involved in the conspiracy had collectively benefited to a sum of almost £9 million.

Bearing this in mind, the court ruled that, should any assets belonging to these individuals be found in the future, an application could also be made to recover them too, under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

This followed an extensive investigation by the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU), which aimed to bring to justice all those operating at the different levels of the drug dealing supply chain.

Between November 2019 and April 2020, the Nottingham-based Kinsella group bought cocaine in bulk from high-level suppliers based in the north and south of England, which they then sold to local drug dealers.

This included the Eastwood group, who sold this cocaine to drug users across Eastwood and the Broxtowe area, while also selling large quantities of heroin they’d sourced from different corners of the country too.

The two groups used an encrypted communications platform to coordinate their drug activity and communicate with other suppliers throughout this period.

Each member of the conspiracy would go on to be exposed, one by one, following a series of police operations, which ultimately saw them brought before Nottingham Crown Court to be sentenced on 30 March 2023.

• Michael Kinsella, 36, of Mundella Road, The Meadows, was jailed for 12 years and eight months 
• Jeffery Bradwell, 35, of Wilfrid Grove, West Bridgford, was sentenced to 11 years and four months
• Daniel Wright, 36, of Princes Street, Eastwood, received 11 years and four months
• Lee Wright, 39, of Moon Crescent, Eastwood, was sentenced to 11 years and four months
• Adam Rhodes, 34, of Cultivation Road, Eastwood, was jailed for 10 years
• David Bowen, 51, of Merton, London, was sentenced to 10 years and eight months
• Fred Carvalho, 41, of London, was jailed for five years and eight months
• Michael Sirrell, 37, of Chilton Drive, Watnall, received a 15 year prison sentence
• Atif Shariff, 35, of Clapham, London, was sentenced to eight years and three months
• Ashley Hook, 40, of Braintree, Essex, was jailed for 13 years
• Nigel Sisson, 35, of Meadow Court, Kilburn, Belper, Derbyshire, received a seven year sentence 
• Dominic Wright, 34, of Scargill Walk, Eastwood, was jailed for 12 years
• Lewis Kelly, 30, of Willow Road, West Bridgford, was sentenced to eight years and eight months
• Jamie Moore, 32, of Holloway Close, East Bridgford, received a seven year sentence
• Keilan Harrison, 22, of Hilltop Rise, Newthorpe, was sentenced to five years and eight months
• Wayne Shipman, 40, of Lovatt Drive, Langley Mill, was jailed for six years
• Dale Wright, 42, Lynncroft, Eastwood, was sentenced to seven years and two months
• John Wells, 47, of Normandale Road, Liverpool, received a sentence of three years and four months

Detective Inspector Tom Bentley, of EMSOU, said: “After securing a combined 166-year-prison sentence for those involved in this conspiracy last year, we’re delighted to have now followed that up through these confiscation proceedings.

“Throughout this investigation, we were determined to ensure that none of the 18 criminals who were jailed for their role in this were able to benefit by a single penny from their ill-gotten gains.

“A lot of hard work and perseverance has gone into making this possible, with our policing teams’ efforts culminating in more than £1.2 million in cash and assets being recovered, which is a fantastic result.

“We know the leading players in this conspiracy collectively benefited to a financial sum even higher than that though, so should any of them be found to have assets in the future, these could be taken off them too.

“The ability to do that, under the Proceeds of Crime Act, will also act as a great disruption tool to prevent further offending, so we’re really pleased with this result.”