Drug addict sentenced for helping county lines gang

A drug addict who allowed a Nottingham-based county lines gang to use her home to store and deal Class A drugs has been sentenced.

Police said Jeanette Talbot, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, was given free heroin and cocaine as payment from the ringleaders, who ran an "industrial" supply network.

The 12 drug dealers were jailed in June, while Talbot had her sentencing deferred to allow her to demonstrate further progress in tackling her drug habit.

Talbot, 56, who admitted conspiring to supply heroin and cocaine between December 2021 and February 2024 at an earlier hearing, was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for 18 months, at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday.

Talbot, of Sandfield Road, was also handed a drug rehabilitation order for six months.

Nottinghamshire Police said an investigation into the drug network - which was spread across the East Midlands and Aberdeen - began after one dealer was arrested when he was caught running away from a car crash in September 2022.

The investigation focused on 13 separate county lines that also supplied heroin and crack to Long Eaton, Ilkeston, Ripley, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Hucknall, Grantham and Spalding.

During a trial at Nottingham Crown Court, it was described as an "industrial scale" operation that tried to dominate the Class A drugs market and also sought to target Leicester.

The court heard how the group protected their turf with knives, a loaded pistol, and bombarded drug users with marketing texts.

Police said the ringleaders made several rap music videos boasting about their weapons and wealth, designed to recruit young drug dealers.

They also set up local distribution hubs at addicts' homes and recruited children to move and sell their drugs.

Prosecutors said the gang tempted vulnerable people who were "gripped by addiction", including Talbot and Kevin Wilde, who allowed them to use their homes to store and deal drugs.

The judge previously said Talbot was a "hapless addict" whose home was cuckooed and who was the victim of her circumstances.

Wilde, of Albert Road in Coalville, Leicestershire, also admitted conspiring to supply Class A drugs during the same period as Talbot at a hearing in 2024.

However, he failed to appear for his sentencing and was also charged with fail to surrender. A warrant for his arrest without bail has been issued.

In June, the other 12 defendants related to the case received sentences of between six and 21 years in prison.

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