Drug dealers fail to get jail sentences reduced

Scott Michael Dodd, 36, and Jonathan Edward Rochford, 31, were jailed for 10 and eight years respectively at Stafford Crown Court in March for their involvement in what Lord Justice Jackson termed a "massive drug dealing operation".

Their 27-strong gang used Shrewsbury's Phoenix Car Centre as a front for warehousing and running cocaine, heroin and cannabis throughout the area, London's Appeal Court heard, while the ringleaders "maintained discipline by threats of violence – and sometimes by using violence".

"The sale and hire of used cars was not the only business which they carried on at the Phoenix Car Centre," Lord Justice Jackson told the court.

"They also used those premises as a base for a massive drug dealing operation."

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Dodd, of Ludlow Drive, Stirchley, Telford, was jailed after admitting conspiracy to supply cocaine, heroin and cannabis. Rochford, of Lake End Drive, Telford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis and cocaine. The two men challenged their sentences yesterday. It came just days after Rochford was banned from offering finance by the Office of Fair Trading.

Rochford claimed he simply "provided the premises and business front" for the operation, and "some of the financial arrangements". His lawyers argued Dodd had a far more senior role in the network, which was unravelled by police after a year-long covert surveillance operation.

Lord Justice Jackson, sitting with Mr Justice Holrodye and Judge John MIlford QC, said around five kilos of drugs were handled by the gang and agreed that Dodd was near "the top of the hierarchy".

He had an "overbearing influence on everything that occurred", said the judge, and "ensured the conspiracy's success through threats of violence".

However, both men had "leading roles" in the drugs operation, the judge concluded, and there was nothing wrong with either of their sentences.