Drug dealer caught in Bury jailed at Bolton Crown Court

Jack Flynn, 27, was arrested as part of Operation Revoke, a police operation aimed at tackling organised crime and drug dealing.

Bolton Crown Court heard officers had his car under surveillance before stopping him and a passenger outside a takeaway on Cook Street, Bury, on October 10 last year.

Prosecutor Craig MacGregor said: “The driver of that car was Jack Flynn and as the police were speaking to him the passenger came out of the takeaway and stood by the passenger side of the car.”

Officers looked at Flynn’s phone, which they found to be a “burner phone.”

The case was heard at Bolton Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

Mr McGregor said: “That phone turned out to be out to be a drugs line, which is exactly what the police were expecting to find.”

Flynn was stopped again on Parkhills Road, Fishpool, on October 30 last year when he was seen driving a Volkswagen, allegedly with the same man as last time.

He and the other man were arrested and a phone they were found with was analysed.

Mr MacGregor said the phone had sent more than 200 “flare messages” to drug users saying it had “some banging new B”, meaning heroin, and “some cracking white”, meaning cocaine.

Flynn, of Jocelyn Street, Manchester, was arrested and on March 19 this year pleaded guilty to two counts of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs.

Mr MacGregor said the drug dealing operation signs of “high planning and organisation”

He said: “This dealing was organised so that the person controlling the street dealers did not have drugs in their possession to minimise their exposure, the court will be aware it is those are handing over drugs are most exposed to arrest.”

He accepted that Flynn was “effectively of good character” before his arrests but said that he had probably been employed in the drug operation for that very reason.

Peter Killen, defending, said that Flynn deserved credit for his guilty pleas and claimed that the other man he had been caught with was “higher up the chain.”

He said that men like Flynn were often used in drug operations like these to “provide a veneer of respectability.”

Mr Killen said that Flynn had shown signs of a good character, was deemed to be at low risk of reoffending and that this was his first experience of jail.

But Judge Abigail Hudson said that the 27-year-old was “someone who was viewed as management material” by those involved in the drug operation.

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She said: “There is nothing in your history which would explain this behaviour, which frankly makes this all the more reprehensible.”

She also referenced a letter Flynn had written to her saying “I haven’t had much but I’ve always been happy with what I’ve got”, when he had had a legitimate job and supportive family.

Judge Hudson said: “That was everything Mr Flynn and you threw it away as a result of this behaviour.”

She jailed Flynn for three years and seven months.