Gang of men guilty of filling Portsmouth, Gosport, Emsworth and Waterlooville with cocaine and cannabis

Stephen Lyons, Kenneth Alan Guy, David Roberts, Max Anthony Roberts and George Barnes were found guilty of various offences following a six-week trial at Portsmouth Crown Court. They are all linked to supplying cocaine and cannabis in the Waterlooville, Gosport, Emsworth and Portsmouth areas between September 2019 and April 2022.

The investigation by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary’s serious and organised crime unit started when Lyons, 60, of Curlew Gardens, Waterlooville, was found to have been involved in the purchase and supply of multiple kilos of cocaine from September 2019 onwards. Forensic evidence was taken from large sums of cash that were seized.

Encrypted mobile phones, associated drug supply messages, narcotics and paraphernalia seizures and surveillance evidence was also analysed. Lyons and Peter Ashley Morrison, 39, of Bromyard Crescent, Paulsgrove, worked together to source large quantities of cocaine and cannabis through EncroChat, an encrypted messaging service. They then used the address of Guy, 60, of Cardiff Road, North End, to store and prepare the narcotics for sale in a secure backroom called “the den”.

Messages identified David Roberts - a customer of Lyons and Morrison - and cocaine was recovered from his address in Emsworth in 2021. Police said he was supplied with two kilos of the Class A drug. Officers hacked the pin code for two phones belonging to Roberts’ son Max. This revealed a separate Emsworth-based cocaine supply operation involving the pair alongside Barnes and others.

Max Roberts, 26, of Victoria Road, Emsworth, and Barnes, 25, of Silverlock Place, Emsworth, were stopped in a car in Waterlooville in April 2022, containing more than £20,000 of cocaine - promptly confiscated by officers. A Portsmouth Crown Court jury found these men guilty of various charges on Thursday (June 13).

Lyons was convicted for conspiracy to supply cocaine between Sept 2019 and June 2021 with Peter Morrison, Kenneth Guy and others, conspiracy to supply cocaine between March 2020 and April 2021 with Peter Morrison and David Roberts, conspiracy to supply cannabis between Sept 2019 and June 2021 with Peter Morrison and others, conspiracy to transfer criminal property (cash) between Sept 2019 and Nov 2019 with Mahmoud Lebleb (who was previously jailed for this offence in September 2023), conspiracy to transfer criminal property (cash) between Nov 2019 and June 2021 with Peter Morrison and others, failing to comply with a Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) notice ordering the disclosure of the PIN to an EncroChat handset and possession with intent to supply benzodiazepines.

Guy was found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine, with David Roberts being convicted of conspiracy to supply cocaine with Lyons and Morrison, conspiracy to supply cocaine with Max Roberts and George Barnes, and possession of criminal property. Max Roberts was found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine and possession of criminal property (cash), while pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis and ketamine at a previous hearing.

Barnes was found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine, while pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis at a previous hearing. Morrison pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine with Stephen Lyons, Kenneth Guy and David Roberts, conspiracy to supply cannabis and conspiracy to transfer criminal property (cash) at an earlier hearing. Lyons, Guy, Max Roberts and David Roberts were remanded in custody by Judge Ashworth ahead of sentencing.

Barnes has been released on bail. David and Max Roberts, and Barnes will be sentenced on August 12, with Lyons, Guy and Morrison being sentenced on September 6.