Leader of Didcot drugs ring Neil Wadley and his gang jailed for a total of 92 years

Neil Wadley was the violent leader of a criminal gang centred around the Didcot area that sold cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines and the party drug MDMA.

Oxford Crown Court was told the group would buy and sell kilograms of cocaine.

Wadley, 47, of Pound Lane, Upton, and nine other gang members have been jailed for almost 92 years for their parts in the multiple drug-dealing conspiracies, selling to people in Swindon, Oxford, Reading and Didcot.

Jailing Wadley for 17 years yesterday, Judge Peter Ross branded him a professional criminal who used the drugs money to build a property empire.

He said: “You were prepared to profit from an evil trade.

“You were prepared to peddle drugs knowing they killed, knowing they drive crime, knowing they destroy lives. You have made a great deal of money out of your criminal activities.

“On the face of it your property empire has been built on that.” “Wadley admitted conspiring to sell cocaine, cannabis, amphetamine and MDMA as well as possessing methoxetamine with intent to supply at previous hearings at Oxford Crown Court.

Police launched Operation Samba to monitor Wadley and his gang after 2kg of 97 per cent pure cocaine was seized from an address in Reading in 2014.

After police raided the addresses of his employees last year Wadley fled to Malaga in Spain, but was later arrested and returned to the UK to face justice.

Police said Wadley had used the cash to build up a property portfolio in Oxfordshire including Pound Lane and Kibble Close in Didcot.

Officers seized around 9kg of cocaine, 1kg of MDMA powder, nearly 5,000 MDMA tablets, 4kg of amphetamine powder, 3kg of methoxetamine and 18kg of cannabis resin with a combined street value of around £1.3 million.

Drugs were bought from other crime groups in Spain, Liverpool, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, London, Reading and Southend-on-Sea then stored in Didcot, Newbury, Reading and Hemel Hempstead.

Former gas engineer Gary Hunt was described as Wadley’s “downtrodden” right hand man, who would transport drugs and cash using a smugglers’ compartment in his car.

Judge Ross said Wadley used violence to control his henchmen, attacking Hunt for not answering his phone – leaving him with a chipped tooth, broken nose and bleeding face.

He added: “You controlled them, you ran it like a business. There’s evidence you used violence to secure compliance.”

Hunt, 39, of Church Street, Didcot, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years for his part in the cocaine conspiracy and conspiracy to sell cannabis.

• Left to right: Glen Beasley, Gary Hunt, Errol Brown, and Gary DeOliveira

Drug addict Paul Blair admitted peddling cocaine in pubs in Abingdon for Wadley in exchange for drugs.

The 34-year-old, of Hazel Close, Abingdon, was jailed for six years and four months for conspiring to sell cannabis and cocaine.

Errol Brown, 52, of Kibble Close, Didcot, was jailed for six years for conspiring to sell MDMA with Wadley, although the court accepted no drugs changed hands.

Co-conspirator Arthur Desousa, 47, of Dee Road, Tilehurst, Reading, was jailed for 15 years after being found guilty of two conspiracies to supply cocaine.

At the same trial Andrew Bowden was found guilty of conspiracy to sell cocaine. The 44-year-old, of Heath Farm, Norfolk, was jailed for 15 years in November.

William Alexander, 51, from Troon, Scotland, denied being a drugs courier for a further conspiracy to sell cannabis, but was jailed for three years after a jury convicted him during the same trial. Albanian Vasil Rica, 46, of Southend-on-Sea, was jailed for 11 years for supplying high purity cocaine into the conspiracy.

Gary De’Oliveira, 35, of London Road, Newbury, was jailed for six years and nine months for conspiring to sell cocaine.

• Some of the drugs seized

Glen Beasley, 44, of Kennford, Devon, was jailed for three years and four months for conspiring to supply cannabis, although Judge Ross said he accepted he was not part of the main organised criminal gang.

Aaron Wright, 33, of Norreys Road, Didcot, admitted conspiracies to supply cocaine, MDMA, cannabis and amphetamine and is due to be sentenced on January 14.

Judge Ross praised the work of prosecutors Michael Roques, his assistant Ross Cohen, the police and Crown Prosecution Service for successfully bringing the case against the gang.

Detective superintendent Nick John said the length of sentences showed how seriously the police take organised drugs rings.

He added: “More than 91 years in sentences will act as a clear deterrent to those who wish to consider undertaking a professional career in criminality.”