A Swadlincote man was said to have profited by around £174,000 from his role in an extensive operation dealing drugs across the Midlands region, a court has heard.

Gareth Pincombe, 38, along with associate Richard Menzies, 33, had been part of a crime syndicate in the Burton and Swadlincote areas for almost two years, the hearing was told.

Pincombe and Menzies were supplied by an organised crime gang arrested during a covert Staffordshire police operation - codenamed Operation Dynamo.

In October last year Pincombe, of Repton Road, Hartshorne, Swadlincote, was jailed for eight years and two months for his role in the conspiracy.

Menzies, of Meadow View Road, Newhall, who had been a 'runner' for Pincombe, was jailed for 43 months.

Richard Menzies, left, and Gareth Pincombe, right
Richard Menzies, left, and Gareth Pincombe, right

Now at a hearing last week at Shrewsbury Crown Court under the Proceeds of Crime Act regulations it was determined that Pincombe's benefit from his criminal activity was £174,134.

However, police said that any realisable assets were very limited. Judge Jonathan Gosling made a confiscation order in the sum of £2,644 and gave Pincombe three months to pay up or face a further four months imprisonment.

A confiscation hearing for Menzies is expected to be considered by the court next month.

Also in court last week was Matthew Parsons, 34, who was concerned in the supply of Class A and Class B drugs who used his work as a DJ in the south Staffordshire area to supply drugs.

In October last year Parsons, of Lower Birches Way, Rugeley, was jailed for three years and six months for supplying cocaine and Mephedrone.

Last week the court heard he had made an estimated £15,000 from his dealing and police had determined his realisable assets included the value of a car, disco equipment and a collection of vinyl records.

A confiscation order was made in the sum of £15,000 which must be paid within three months or Parsons faces a further seven months in prison.

Parsons, and Pincombe and Menzies, were supplied by an organised crime gang based at Cannock and were among 21 men and two women from the Burton area, Cannock, Walsall, Stafford, Redditch and Swindon, who were arrested during Operation Dynamo.

The court heard that Pincombe, a former addict, was jailed for 14 years in 2007 for conspiring to supply Class A drugs across the Midlands and had been released in May, 2013.

Both Pincombe and Menzies had admitted conspiracy to supply Mephedrone - a class B drug also known as M-cat - between November 2014 and June 2016.

Pincombe was arrested in July, 2014 for an offence of aggravated vehicle taking and was involved in a crash and was jailed for six months.

Police recovered £1,000 in cash and a carrier bag which contained traces of cannabis and cocaine and from which Menzies fingerprints were recovered.

The prosecution said this indicated the drug conspiracy had been in operation prior to November, 2014, and demonstrated contact between Pincombe and leading members of the Cannock-based crime group.

At the time Pincombe was in jail and was not released until January, 2015, which suggested he was able to orchestrate events from his prison cell, the hearing heard.

Police were aware of a delivery of drugs to the Swadlincote area in December 2014 and a second delivery in February 2015, by a courier from the Cannock-based gang whose phone later revealed addresses and post codes for Menzies and Pincombe and locations for meetings in the Burton and Swadlincote areas.

In June 2015, Menzies was arrested after police traced the movements of a car travelling from Cannock north on a road between Appleby Magna and Burton.

When the car was searched three kilos of Mephedrone worth £45,000 was found and one of the packages revealed Menzies' fingerprints.