How County Lines dealer who 'swam with sharks' was forced back into drugs world

Awo Awoyera was jailed for six years and four months this week after he admitted being involved in the ‘Danny’ County Lines network, which operated across Swindon for at least four months last year.

His fourth drugs trafficking offence, it was heard that Awoyera set up the network just days after being released from prison in June.

READ MORE: County Lines dealer who exploited vulnerable users jailed for six years

But Swindon Crown Court heard on Monday that Awoyera had intended to get away from the drugs world after his release from prison, but was roped back in after his former bosses found him and demanded repayment for a drug debt.

Ayo Awoyera

His barrister, John Upton, told the court that two years before being released, he had been in discussions with the prison about relocation.

But just a day before he was due to walk out the gates, the relocation team told him that he would have to present himself as homeless to Hackney Council.

“This was a real blow and knocked him backwards,” Mr Upton said. “He tells me he was so worried about being in Hackney that he would have preferred to spend longer in prison.”

After being released, Hackney Council asked him whether there was family if he could stay with, which there was. But, Mr Upton said, some of his former associates had heard that the 25-year-old had been released.

“As is all too common, although he was trying to keep his head down, people knew where he lived, and made various threats to him over Snapchat to him and his family,” Mr Upton added, including his mother, sister and two-year-old niece.

“These threats were put into action to the extent of a window being smashed from the outside when his sister and niece were in the room.

“He already knew the people threatening him were serious and would carry it out and the police in Hackney would agree the problem with the gangs are severe and widespread.”

Some of the drugs recovered in the police investigation

Later, he was stabbed in the leg whilst coming out of a shop, and warned that next time “it would be worse unless he paid the money he owed”, Mr Upton said.

Awoyera moved to Swindon, where he set up the county lines network to start paying back the money.

But Judge Jason Taylor QC had limited sympathy for Awoyera.

“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.”

Mr Upton told the court that his client, from Evelyn Court, Amhurst Road, Hackney first got involved in drugs in 2014, when he was about to start at Sheffield University, studying business.

The budding forex trader was told by “Hackney people” that he could work for them to earn money to pay for his course in advance, and then start paying them back afterwards.

“This failed when he was caught and sentenced to 14 months,” Mr Upton added.

Some of the drugs recovered in the police investigation.

On his release, the same “Hackney people” told him that he could forget about University and that he should work for them, which he did.

But after his second term of imprisonment, the bosses’ mood changed. They started saying he owed them money, and he was caught in a cycle of debt.

“This is a man all too aware of the effect of Class A drugs on users, that can rapidly become addicted, but is a man who felt trapped with no obvious way, given his background, to ensure his safety and that of his mother.”

He was jailed for six years and four months at Swindon Crown Court on Monday for his fourth Class A drugs trafficking offence.