‘Both of you played an essential role with potential lethal drugs flooding the streets of Hull and Grimsby’
A generic image of a Humberside Police officer(Image: Humberside Police)
There have been 14 drugs overdoses in North East Lincolnshire linked to a contaminated batch of illegal heroin, some of which have proved fatal, a court heard. Humberside Police smashed a drug ring operated by an organised crime group which was selling drugs in northern Lincolnshire and Hull.
Grimsby Crown Court heard it was the busiest drug line detectives had investigated with 900 messages being sent out to 300 users, sometimes three times per day on a 24-hour drug line. Some of the drugs were laced with Etonitazene, which was described as a synthetic opioid 1,000 times to 1,500 times more potent than morphine. The dealers delivered to addresses in Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Immingham, Barton and Marshchapel, said prosecutor Louise Reevell.
She prosecuted two men who admitted drug dealing. Owen Barker, 23, formerly of Cambridge Street, Cleethorpes and Jack Baker, 20, formerly of Castle Street, Grimsby admitted drug supply. Barker admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine between August last year and January this year. Baker admitted possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply in January this year.
Barker said he had run up a debt to other drug dealers and agreed to sell drugs for others to try to clear his debt at £50-per-day and he received directions from others. He was not prepared to name them, said Miss Reevell.
Baker was found at his address bagging and weighing drugs and action under instructions, he said. Miss Reevell said an alert was raised on January 24 this year when there were four separate drug-related overdoses confirmed at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital. in Grimsby.
Enquiries made between the hospital and police led to the arrest of Owen Barker at his home. He was on licence from prison for previous drug offences, for which he was sentenced to three years and eight months.
Forensic examination of a phone seized at his home showed the drug line became active in March 2025 and between August last year and January this year there were around 900 bulk messages issued to between 150 and 300 people offering drugs each day.
Miss Reevell said: “It was active 24-hours-day. It was the busiest drug line the police have seen in this area. it would require numerous people to bag up the drugs and deliver.”
The day after the overdoses were confirmed in hospital, police arrested Barker in Cambridge Street, Cleethorpes where they found drugs, scales and £125 in cash. There were 373 bags of cocaine of 84 per cent to 92 per cent in purity. It had a street value estimated at around £3,730. There were also 160 bags of heroin with a street value of £1,600.
Miss Reevell said analysis showed the heroin had been contaminated with synthetic opioid, Etonitazene 1,000 times to 1,500 times more potent than morphine. “Humberside Police are investigating 14 overdoses which include a number of deaths and a coroner is investigating and awaiting toxicology results on samples,” said the prosecutor.
She added: “This substance is a significant risk to the public and drug users in particular. It was being used as a bulking agent.”
She told how Baker’s address in Castle Street was raided and £300 cash was found and his phone seized. Miss Reevell said police on patrol in De Grey Street in Hull on February 26 spotted a man involved in a drug deal in the street.
Baker was arrested and told officers: “You don’t understand. I have to do it. I can’t tell you about them. It is worse for me.”
Mitigating for Baker, Curtis Dunkley said his client had pleaded guilty early and had a difficult time after failing his GCSEs and not finding employment. He was in Hull and isolated and fell into the pressure from others to sell drugs.
“He regrets it deeply and acknowledges he is wasting his whole life. He said he had no hopes or dreams,” his barrister said. He added his client had only been involved in the network for a month in Grimsby and only two days while in a hostel in Hull.
Aaron Dinnes, for Barker said: “It is a tale as old as time. It shows the horrifying effects drugs have with people involving young people to sell drugs. He did not know how to get out of the hole he was in.
“He knows he made a terrible mistake. It was a line operated for 24 hours and he was a small cog in a large machine.” He said he was not living the lifestyle of someone doing well with dealing in drugs. He said his client was engaged under pressure and is fearful of speaking out too much.
Judge Gurdial Singh said he was careful not to link the two men to the deaths because there was no evidence that what they were selling was responsible for the deaths and they did not know what they were supplying.
“But I cannot ignore the potency of what was being supplied by you. It clearly was incredibly potent and that is something I have to bear in mind,” he said.
He told them: “You were addicted or naive. You were expendable. But you knew what you were doing and agreed to be part of the activities.”
He added: “The drugs had the potential to be fatal. I don’t suggest you knew that. But there is that danger. This was a substantial operation that you were in. Both of you played an essential role with potential lethal drugs flooding the streets of Hull and Grimsby.”
He jailed Barker for three years and nine months and Baker must serve three years in a Young Offender Institution.
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