Drug ring 'top dog' found guilty

An Essex drug dealer described as the "top dog" in a �2m ecstasy ring has been convicted after police officers recorded coded conversations.

Jurors at Southwark Crown Court found George Stokes, 62, from Skelmersdale Road, Clacton-on-Sea, guilty of conspiring to supply the drug.

Officers seized nearly 900,000 ecstasy tablets during their investigation into the London operation.

Two other men admitted possession of ecstasy with intent to supply.

'Foot soldiers'

Prosecutor Tim Probert-Wood told the court a secret listening device was planted in Stokes' car, allowing investigators to record conversations.

First to be arrested were the two "foot soldiers", who later admitted possession of ecstasy with intent to supply.

Stokes was essentially the top dog, calling the shots

Tim Probert-Wood

Justin Bird, 39, of Valley Close, Waltham Abbey, Essex, was arrested in August 2006, after going into a metal shipping container used to store 855,000 ecstasy tablets.

Jamie Droy, 31, of Barnsby Park, Islington, north London, was caught the following month as he took delivery of a holdall containing a further 43,000 pills.

Steven Franks, 58, of Thomas More Street, St Katharine Dock, central London, and William Hickson, 65, of no fixed address, were both cleared of conspiracy, as well as an alternative count alleging supply of the second seizure.

Mr Probert-Wood told jurors during the three-month trial that Stokes "primarily" operated in the London area.

He said: "Stokes was essentially the top dog, calling the shots.

"Beneath him were the foot soldiers like Bird and Droy, the gophers, the carriers, who are more expendable."

He said the transcripts of the secretly recorded conversations showed Stokes was "very paranoid about security".

The three men will be sentenced on Friday.