Southsea man jailed for his involvement in Gosport gang that supplied heroin and crack cocaine

A MAN from Southsea has been jailed for his involvement in a gang supplying heroin and crack cocaine in Gosport.
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Jack Zachary Darvill, a 22-year-old resident of Londesborough Road, attended Portsmouth Crown Court today to be told he will spend the next five years in prison.

Darvill had pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, after his home was searched and officers found almost half a kilo of heroin worth £49,600 on the streets.

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The drugs courier was arrested on September 29 in 2018 at a Slug and Lettuce bar when suspicious door staff alerted police.

Jack Darvill has been sent to prison for five years for his part in a gang's efforts to supply class A drugs across Gosport.Jack Darvill has been sent to prison for five years for his part in a gang's efforts to supply class A drugs across Gosport.
Jack Darvill has been sent to prison for five years for his part in a gang's efforts to supply class A drugs across Gosport.

His sentencing follows six other men being jailed for a combined total of 43 years for their involvement in the drug dealing gang, which was led by a murderer from his prison cell.

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Officers from Hampshire Constabulary’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit investigated the supply of heroin and crack cocaine for more than eight months from September 2018.

Officers seized drugs with an estimated street value of £275,000, and cash in the region of £74,500.

Members of the Essex Boys gang have been jailed for dealing crack cocaine and heroin in Gosport. Top row, from left - Jacob James, John Parham, Rayhaan Hoque. Bottom, from left, Lance Burt, Luke Goldsmith, and drugs seized by police
March 26, 2021Members of the Essex Boys gang have been jailed for dealing crack cocaine and heroin in Gosport. Top row, from left - Jacob James, John Parham, Rayhaan Hoque. Bottom, from left, Lance Burt, Luke Goldsmith, and drugs seized by police
March 26, 2021
Members of the Essex Boys gang have been jailed for dealing crack cocaine and heroin in Gosport. Top row, from left - Jacob James, John Parham, Rayhaan Hoque. Bottom, from left, Lance Burt, Luke Goldsmith, and drugs seized by police March 26, 2021
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The News previously reported that jailed murderer Liam Whitnell was leading trusted members of his gang in a ‘profitable and large-scale operation’ – using mobile phones smuggled into his prison cell.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard he used 10 phones at the Serco-run private jail HMP Dovegate, while members of the gang travelled from Hampshire to London to courier drugs.

Whitnell’s lieutenant and childhood friend Rayhaan Hoque supplied the Gosport end of the gang from his London, and was jailed for 10 years.

Couriers Lance Burt and Luke Goldsmith were jailed for five and six years respectively, alongside ‘area manager’ Jacob James who was handed a seven-year prison spell.

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Drugs ‘cook’ John Parham, who converted cocaine to crack at his home in The Crossways, Gosport, was jailed for six years.

Whitnell was handed a nine-year term to run alongside his life sentence for stabbing to death an innocent family man in 2011.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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