Mr Big gets 25 years

Sentencing Matthew Glover, Judge Anthony Ensor told the father-of-five he had plied "a wicked trade" in dealing in ecstasy, amphetamine sulphate and cannabis.

Judge Ensor said he had no doubt that Glover was the leader of the gang which called itself The Firm and which dealt in drugs worth more than £1.6million.

Glover, 39, of Hurstwood View, Foxstones Lane, Cliviger, had denied three charges of conspiracy to supply ecstasy, amphetamine sulphate and cannabis resin between September 1, 1999, and February 6, 2001.

But the man who described himself as the "managing director" of The Firm was found guilty by a unanimous jury after a four-week trial and more than eight hours deliberation. He was jailed for 25 years for the ecstasy charge and 14 years, concurrent, for the other two counts.

The court heard how Glover was jailed in 1983 for manslaughter after killing a man during a fight outside a pub.

Right-hand man Anthony Lockwood, 41, of Stocks Lane, Middop, Gisburn, had denied the same charges but was also found guilty by a unanimous jury. He will be sentenced on Monday along with a further seven members of the gang who pleaded guilty to a variety of charges at an earlier hearing.

During the trial the

jury at Preston Crown Court heard that Glover and Lockwood were responsible for organising drug deals worth hundreds of thousands of pounds which were carried out in Lancashire, Manchester and West Yorkshire.

But they were eventually foiled as part of a covert operation led by police from the National Crime Squad, codenamed Norfolk, which included bugging mobile phones between members of the gang and Glover's house and car.

Glover claimed he had made his money from buying and selling goods including cars, tobacco and horses -- money that meant he was able to move from a modest terrace in Nelson to a palatial country house in Cliviger and pay for luxury holidays in cash.

But, despite the affluent lifestyle, the jury were told he avoided getting his hands dirty and controlled the workings of The Firm from a safe distance.

Sending Glover to prison Judge Ensor said: "You were the mastermind behind vast quantities of prohibited drugs in the north west in excess of £1.6m. The full extent of the gang's activities has not been revealed, but I have no doubt that you were the leader of this enterprise. Such is the quantity of drugs involved that you must have been in close contact with the importers of these drugs into the UK.

"It is only rarely that the courts have before them the organisers of this wicked trade which is the scourge of the courts. Ecstasy can be lethal and I am satisfied that you are a dangerous man from whom the public must be protected."

The other members of the gang to be sentenced at Preston Crown Court on Monday alongside Anthony Lockwood are: Thomas Harrington, 40, formerly of Beverley Road, Blacko, now of Sanders Grove, Morecambe, for conspiracy to supply ecstasy, amphetamine sulphate and cannabis resin; John Sawley, 44, of Little Tom's Lane, Burnley, for conspiracy to supply amphetamine and being concerned in the supply of ecstasy; James McGeogh, 49, of Lenches Lane, Colne, for conspiracy to supply ecstasy, amphetamine sulphate and cannabis resin; Colin Threlfall, 39, of Bowland Road, Heysham for conspiracy to supply ecstasy; Michael Metcalfe, 43, of Bowland Road, Heysham, for conspiracy to supply ecstasy; Peter Baldwin, 40, of no fixed abode for conspiracy to supply cannabis resin and being concerned in the supply of amphetamine sulphate and Paul Davies, 30, of Montague Drive, Burnley, for conspiracy to supply amphetamine and cannabis.

A further two members of the gang, David Guy, 41, of Kingsmill Lane, Huddersfield, for being concerned in the supply of amphetamine and Robert Sumner, 36, of Church Street, Macclesfield, for the same charge.

A hearing to decide what should be done with the assets of the gang such as houses and cars will be held in July. All the drugs seized have been destroyed.

Sarah Parrington from the National Crime Squad said of Glover's sentence: "Twenty five years for this sort of offence is one of the largest sentences ever given in Lancashire, if not the largest.

"We have had cases before with sentences of 24 years for cases involving Class A drugs like heroin and cocaine, but for a case involving ecstasy the sentence was very good news."

The Firm's life of luxury

FAST cars, big houses and expensive jewellery were the trappings of the members of The Firm -- one of the biggest criminal gangs ever to operate in the north west of England.

It was a tempting lifestyle with huge profits to be made for those willing to take the risks. Modest terraces were swapped for palatial country mansions, luxury holidays were paid for in cash and exclusive cars bought on a whim.

But a life of luxury built on the profits of crime is a fragile thing and the house of cards would soon come crashing down around the ears of the gang members.

At 7am on February 6 last year a series of dawn swoops led by detectives from the National Crime Squad formed the climax to a complex operation lasting more than 17 months which had targeted The Firm.

The raids in Accrington, Nelson, Rossendale, Burnley, Morecambe, and Keighley were co-ordinated by the NCS with the help of Lancashire Constabulary, including officers from the force's Tactical Firearms Team, and followed the seizure of drugs with a street value of £1.6m -- including ecstasy, amphetamine sulphate (speed) and cannabis -- in Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Yorkshire.

Police said the 17-month inquiry code-named Operation Norfolk was aimed at disrupting what has been described as a major multi-million pound drugs ring based in the North West.

The long running and complex operation had focused on alleged drug trafficking in class A and class B drugs across the whole of the UK.

Officers also recovered £500,000 worth of stolen Hugo Boss designer clothes in Oldham.

It had been a long and complex operation which had shown how closely they could work with forces in a targeted approach to organised crime which had yielded dividends.

The co-ordinated raids in February were the climax of what had been a meticulous and complex operation involving hundreds of officers and months of painstaking surveillance of the gang members.

Every scrap of evidence was vital for the success of the operation -- and subsequent conviction of The Firm's main players -- as these were men involved at the very highest level of Class A drugs supply.

Glover, the managing director of the gang, was always meticulously careful to avoid as much contact as he could with the drug deals.

He organised and oversaw the various transactions but left much of the work on the ground to his lieutenant, Lockwood, who ran operations from his secluded caravan near Gisburn.

Such care was taken to avoid detection that meetings between members were rare and brief and took place at locations least likely to draw attention such as the car park of the Happy Eater restaurant in Burnley.

Most of the deals were done over specially bought pre-paid mobile phones which were hard for the police to trace and could be ditched if they became a risk.

Much of the talk was in the language of the

drugs world with references to wood instead of cannabis, phet for amphetamine and little ones for ecstasy. At one stage Glover refers to a shipment of R and Rs -- an abbreviation for Rolls Royce, a type of ecstasy.

Glover and Lockwood and the other members of the gang must have thought they were untouchable.

Glover moved with his wife and five children from a modest terrace in Chapel Street, Nelson, to a palatial country home in Cliviger, where he enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle.

Money was no object for the MD of The Firm with holidays to Spain paid for in cash and hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of jewellery bought, jewellery which Glover later claimed he had won in a snooker game.

During one conversation with Bob Blackburn, a dealer and gang member, Glover even arranged to buy two sports cars over the phone.

But Glover and his gang were not untouchable. Unknown to them their every movement was being watched and their conversations listened to on covert surveillance equipment. Police had bugged the Glover home and several cars used by other members of the gang.

As the net closed in on Glover and Lockwood, the pair became increasingly worried for their own safety as taped phone conversations between them show.

At one stage they even discussed the possibility of an informer in the gang because the police were interrupting so many of their major deals. The crunch came as a result of a series of arrests of high profile members of The Firm during May and June 2001, during which huge amounts of drugs worth up to £1.5m were seized.

The most devastatating blow, however, came on December 8 when the gang's store of drugs at Waterbarn Street, Burnley, was raided and £100,000 worth of amphetamine sulphate was seized.

It was a killer blow to Glover ,who had lost hundreds of thousands of pounds invested in drugs as a result of the raids.

It was only a matter of time before both he and Lockwood were also arrested on February 6.

Story of the crime squad

THE National Crime Squad (NCS) was set up in April 1998 and represented a significant milestone in the history of British policing.

It's formation came in response to a parliamentary report in 1995 on the threat of organised crime in the UK.

The NCS targets criminal organisations committing serious crime which transcends national and international boundaries, typically drug trafficking, illegal arms trafficking, money laundering, contract killings, counterfeiting, kidnap and extortion.

Regional crime squads had already been established as early as 1964 in a bid to tackle crime that increasingly crossed the borders of counties and regions in the country. The regional crime squads were made up of officers seconded from police forces and were split into nine regions covering the whole country.

In 1993 the nine regional crime squads were made into six units with 44 bases across the UK, including one at Chorley. The six units were amalgamated to form the National Crime Squad four years ago.

The NCS is commanded by a Director General based in London and is divided into eastern, northern and western areas.

Around 1450 officers are seconded to the NCS from other police forces.

Network is now out of action

AFTER the case the man who led the investigation into The Firm, Detective Chief Inspector John Tyrer of the National Crime Squad, gave his reaction to the sentences.

Mr Tyrer, who is based at the NCS office in Chorley, said: "This organisation referred to themselves as The Firm and ran an extensive and highly organised drug network to supply class A and class B drugs across the North West of England.

"During a 17-month investigation, drugs with a street value of more than £1.6 million were seized as the National Crime Squad continued their inquiries as part of the strategy to disrupt the organisation, as well as getting evidence to convict these offenders at court.

"At the helm of this organisation was Matthew Glover, who referred to himself as the managing director, and his right-hand man Anthony Lockwood.

"I'm extremely pleased with the result of this court case, which has put a major drugs network out of action and, in relation to Matthew Glover, has resulted in a long custodial sentence.

"The National Crime Squad led a long and difficult investigation against this organisation and it's satisfying to see all that hard work result

in these convictions.

"The Firm was dealing in significant quantities of class A and class B drugs and this was a lucrative business for its members. Drugs spoil lives and destroy families and these people were out to make money from that."

Det Chief Insp Tyrer said the investigation had shown how well the NCS and other forces could work together and he thanked both Lancashire Constabulary and the National Criminal Intelligence Service for their assistance.