DRUGDEALERS were jailed for a total of 38 years after police uncovered a stash of cannabis in rented offices.

The five men were sentenced yesterday (May 11) after Essex Police traced and tailed the criminals for four weeks last June.

The dealers stored four kilos of cannabis, worth around £8,000, at rented offices in Waltham Abbey, as well as half a kilo of cocaine and 93 kilos of cannabis resin at an industrial site in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.

Police will not disclose the address of the drug den in Waltham Abbey because the offices’ owner has asked them not to.

Following a tip-off police sent undercover officers to track and tail the dealers before arresting them in June last year.

Two of the men were arrested in Waltham Abbey, the others at their headquarters in Clacton.

They were sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday.

Simon Newman, 47, of Tenpenny Hill in Thorrington, was sentenced to 11 years, pleading guilty for conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs and possession of criminal property.

David Cooper, 27, from Hendon Close in Clacton, was jailed for three-and-a-half years, pleading guilty for conspiracy to supply Class B drugs.

Gregory Morgan, 46, of Oakmead Road in St Osyth, will spend eight years in jail for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and conspiracy to launder money.

Alan Farra, 48, of Severn Road in Clacton, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and having a Class B drug with intent to supply and jailed for 11 years.

Colin Shea, 53, from Plymouth Road in Clacton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and cannabis cultivation, and was sentenced to five years.

Tracey Chapman, a 39-year-old care assistant from St Osyth Road in Clacton, was charged with one count of conspiracy to launder money and pleaded guilty to the offence.

She will be sentenced on Friday, May 18.

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