Sussex’s judges, juries and magistrates were busy in September.
These are some of the most serious, high-profile and prolific offenders who were jailed in the ninth month of 2023.
All information comes directly from Sussex Police.
13. Locked up in Sussex: These are some of the criminals jailed in September 2023
Seven members of a Brighton drugs gang have been jailed for a total of 46 years and four months after a ground-breaking investigation by Sussex Police and its partners. The sentences follow a two-year investigation by the Brighton Community Investigation Team (CIT) into the HECTOR county drugs line, which brought crack cocaine and heroin into Brighton from Essex during 2020. Alongside drug convictions, eight defendants were convicted of modern slavery offences against four children in an extremely rare outcome for a case such as this. One is awaiting sentence. This was the second iteration of the HECTOR line, which was first dismantled after a two-year operation by Brighton CIT, that saw ten men jailed for a total of more than 64 years. Police became aware of the HECTOR line returning to operation under new leadership towards the end of 2020 and an investigation revealed it was controlled by five senior leaders in Essex – Thomas Warwick, Gary Goodwin, Jayden Henry-Flavien, Liam Harvey and Harley Roberts. Three more individuals were identified as being involved in the transportation of people and drugs, and support of the criminal conspiracy – Dean Warrington, Cris Donovan and Nicola McKenzie, who allowed the group to use her property in Brighton as a base of operations. The investigation also found four children had been recruited to deal drugs in Brighton and Hove, transported to the city by Warrington and Donovan and in some cases allowed to stay with McKenzie. This practice is typical of county lines dealing, where gangs from larger urban cities deal drugs in smaller, more rural areas, often exploiting children and other vulnerable people in the process. Once located, the four children were treated as victims in the investigation, safeguarded and offered support by Sussex Police and community partners to help steer them away from further criminality. During their three months of running the HECTOR line, the group supplied around 8,000 wraps of Class A drugs in Brighton and Hove, with a street value Photo: Jon Rigby
14. Locked up in Sussex: These are some of the criminals jailed in September 2023
A Bexhill man who sexually assaulted and took more than 100 indecent images of a child has been jailed, police said. William Reid, 35, of Dorset Road, Bexhill, was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual assault, and six counts of making indecent images of a child, Sussex Police said. Police said Reid, who was jailed for five years, will be a registered sex offender for life and was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) which restricts his access to females under the age of 18 and limits his use and accessibility to digital devices and systems, for life. Reid was sentenced on Wednesday, August 2. Photo: Sussex Police