A judge has jailed five men – including a Dalton criminal for eight years – following a police operation in Huddersfield in which drugs and a pistol were seized.

Judge James Spencer QC said he was satisfied the plan had been to collect the gun from West Yorkshire and subsequently introduce it into the “gangland culture” in Liverpool.

Sentences imposed in December could not previously be reported because of an outstanding trial which has now ended.

Leeds Crown Court heard that on May 10 last year George Sweeney and Peter Madu had travelled to Huddersfield from Liverpool in one private hire vehicle while Lewis Tynan was driven there in another.

The first vehicle pulled up outside an address in Fernside Avenue, Almondbury, and after a time an Audi which had blackened windows arrived before Tynan’s hire care also turned up.

Fernside Avenue, Almondbury
Fernside Avenue, Almondbury

Sweeney got into the Audi and there was movement of people between the cars before the Audi – said to be driven by Jamie Simpson who had previous drug convictions – led the convoy to Walton Croft where he was living.

Tynan subsequently carried a red suitcase and a dark holdall to the boot of VW Passat hire car before it drove off.

That car was subsequently seen on the forecourt of the Esso filling Station in New Hey Road, near Oakes, minutes before it was stopped by police going towards the M62.

Inside the boot the suitcase was found to contain some clothes, bedding and an inflatable mattress but when they were removed inside the lining officers found a bag containing 200 grammes of cannabis worth £1,700 to £2,000 and inside a roll of black material they found a 9mm Makarov self-loading pistol complete with magazine and a box of ammunition.

Makarov bullets

The pistol had the DNA of Joshua Heathcote on it who was not present when it was handed over but had been in contact with Simpson earlier that day.

Sweeney, 33, of Malwood Street, Liverpool, was jailed for nine years and Tynan, 24, of Huyton, Liverpool, for eight years for acquiring a firearm, possession of ammunition and possession of cannabis with intent to supply.

Simpson, 29, of Walton Croft, Dalton, was jailed for eight years for selling a firearm, possession of ammunition and possession of cannabis with intent to supply while Heathcote, 21, of Turnstead Drive, Cleckheaton, was jailed for five-and-a-half years for selling or disposing of a firearm.

Madu, 43, of Cedar Terrace, Liverpool, who admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply was jailed for 12 months.

After the case Det Chief Inspector Warren Stevenson said the four main offenders “now have time inside to consider the consequences of their actions and we have taken a potentially dangerous weapon out of circulation.”