County Lines dealer jailed for six years after exploiting vulnerable Swindon drug users

Ayo Awoyera, a veteran in the Hackney drugs scene, moved his operation to the Wiltshire town soon after his release from prison in June last year.

He was roped back into the murky underworld thanks to his knowledge and experience, and was soon able to set up a fully-fledged county lines operation.

READ MORE: How dealer who 'swam with sharks' was forced back into drugs world

The 25-year-old exploited vulnerable drug users, including Bradley Atkinson, to move the Class A substances. Atkinson’s Eastleaze home was kitted out as a cutting factory, complete with scales, weighing bags, paraphernalia, and razors.

Ayo Awoyera

Swindon Crown Court heard on Monday that Awoyera, who controlled the ‘line’, known as ‘Danny’, would send out bulk text messages to drug users across Swindon advertising illicit substances for sale – often offering discounts.

After orders were sent in, he would send the orders to 45-year-old Atkinson, and dispatch runners to collect the drugs from him.

It was only when Wiltshire Police’s Operation Fortitude team spoke to known drug users, and looked at text messages, that they became aware of the network. By mid-October, they conducted simultaneous warrants on Atkinson and Awoyera’s addresses.

At Awoyera’s home, they found £400 in cash, three phones including the ‘county line’, a set of scales with powder on it, and one wrap of Class A drugs, according to prosecutor Alec Small. Meanwhile, at Atkinson’s property, officers found his phone, equipment to cut the drugs into deal bags, and a drugs ledger.

Bradley Atkinson. Photo: Facebook.

In all, more than 11 grams of crack cocaine and 25 grams of heroin was at the property when police raided – with an upper estimate of the value given as £3,600.

After seizing the phones, detectives found the dealing messages, but paid particular attention to snapchat messages on Awoyera’s phone.

“In particular there’s a conversation between him and an associate arranging multiple properties in Swindon to be used as part of a drug dealing operation in Swindon, where two dealers could base themselves from,” Mr Small continued.

“We say it is consistent with the cuckooing tactic often employed by county lines operations.”

Some of the drugs recovered in the police operation.

In police interview, Atkinson, of Longstock Court, said: “There ain’t no dealing, I don’t do dealing. They’re f-ing cuckooing the house. I got caught up on this a week ago.”

Mitigating for Awoyera, of Evelyn Court, Amhurst Road in Hackney, John Upton said that his client was not intending to deal drugs in Swindon.

He said that his client, who has three previous convictions for drugs trafficking, had been intending to move away from Hackney to escape the reach previous bosses, but was let down by the prison the day before he was due to be let out.

“This was a real blow and knocked him backwards.”

Staying with family in the capital, his former associates knew he was out of jail, Mr Upton added, and made threats against him and his family, including his mother, sister and two-year-old niece. In one incident, he was stabbed in the leg coming out of a shop, but didn’t report it for fear of repercussions.

“He felt the only option he had was to get himself away from Hackney. He was told the next time it would be worse unless he paid the money he owed.”

But Judge Jason Taylor QC had limited sympathy for Awoyera, who had his head bowed throughout most of the hearing.

“The bottom line is though, when you swim with sharks, you can hardly be surprised when you get bitten,” he said. “It’s very common really. This happens when you mix in these circles.”

Some of the drugs recovered in the police operation.

Mitigating for Atkinson, Tony Bignall said that his client was vulnerable following an accident in 2019 and that his recovery was “going well” before the pandemic hit, when he “was tempted again” by drugs.

“He was cuckooed, would it be right to attribute all of the items found at his address to him? I would invite Your Honour to impose a sentence that doesn’t invite immediate custody.”

Sentencing, Judge Taylor said that Awoyera initially tried to extricate himself, but “ultimately jumped back into the drug world with both feet, and I cannot ignore that”.

Addressing Atkinson, he said: “You are remorseful, what you did was isolated, and you were taken advantage of.”

For being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs and possession with intent to supply Class A drugs, Awoyera was jailed for six years and four months. He will also serve a concurrent 15-month sentence for possessing criminal property.

Meanwhile, the judge sentenced Atkinson to a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months for two counts of allowing a property to be used in the supply of drugs, citing the “strong personal mitigation and a realistic prospect of rehabilitation”.