A COUPLE from Tavistock and a Cornish man have been jailed for a total of 28 years for their part in a nationwide heroin-dealing gang, orchestrated from Liverpool.

Marvin Hyde, aged 49, and Beth Flower, 29, both from Tavistock, and Jason Fletcher, a 47-year-old from St Blazey, were jailed at Liverpool Crown Court after a lengthy investigation. It involved five separate raids, in which Merseyside Police officers seized a total of six kilos of heroin and eight kilos of adulterant with an estimated street value of between £840,000 and £1.4-million.

Hyde and Flower received kilos of heroin on a weekly basis and were in direct contact with Liverpool drug dealers Lee Halpin and Andrew Worrall.

Hyde was jailed for 11 years.

Halpin and Worrall were caught red-handed mixing 2.5kg of heroin, valued at £250,000, in a flat in Wavertree on January 15, 2015.

The pair pleaded guilty to dealing class A drugs and were each jailed for eight years at Liverpool Crown Court in May 2015.

The courts heard how Flower headed up a heroin supply operation in South West England with boyfriend Hyde from their Tavistock home. She was sentenced to nine years.

Fletcher, from Treryn Close, Par, was the courier for Hyde. He received an eight-year prison term.

The investigation by Merseyside Police’s Matrix Serious Organised Crime team saw 20 people — 18 men and two women — sentenced to more than 192 years after being convicted of conspiracy to supply drugs offences.

Detectives revealed the criminals continued to direct the conspiracy even after they were locked up, using mobile phones sneaked into their prison cells.

Dep Spt Lee Turner, of Merseyside Police, said: ‘Organised crime groups like this, who deal in the wholesale supply and distribution of controlled drugs, don’t care about the impact that supply of drugs has in our communities. But I would like to reassure the decent members of our communities that Merseyside Police is committed to tackling the supply of drugs and we will continue to proactively tackle criminal gangs, who think nothing of flooding the streets with dangerous drugs in order to profit from other people’s misery. And as today’s sentencing shows our investigations have no borders and we will look to bring all those involved to court regardless of where they live.

‘The individuals based on Merseyside expanded their criminal enterprise by setting up a drug supply network in Scotland, Wales and Devon and Cornwall.

‘The message is clear - we are relentless in our pursuit of those involved in serious organised crime and will continue to do all we can to put our communities first and remove the threat, risk and harm these individuals bring to our streets.

‘I would like to take this opportunity to thank the detectives involved in investigating this complex and far-reaching drugs conspiracy, their tenacity has led to the justice that has been served today. I would also like to thank the officers in Gwent, Devon and Cornwall and Police Scotland, who supported our officers during the investigation, prosecuting barrister Ian Unsworth and the Crown Prosecution Service for all their hard work.’

Det Spt of Devon and Cornwall Police Ken Lamont said: ‘This operation centred on the main suspect Mervyn Hyde, who was involved in the supply of Class A drugs across North and West Devon.

‘The operation was able to establish a very strong link with Merseyside, and an effective liaison and working relationship with their ‘Matrix’ team enabled this wider conspiracy to be established, which is I believe, reflected in the evidence secured and the extent of the sentences that have been passed.’