Sheffield: 17-year-old helped gang threaten vulnerable people to deal drugs in large operation

Kai Bean, aged 21, Tommy Maughan, 21, and a 17-year-old boy, who can't be named due to his age, flooded the streets of Woodhouse with heroin and crack cocaine between July 2023 and July 2024.

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As part of a South Yorkshire Police operation known as Clear Hold Build (CHB), officers discovered that the trio were using vulnerable people’s homes to prepare drugs for sale.

The large-scale operation saw them use various mobile phone numbers to receive orders as they facilitated the sale of Class A drugs worth around £250,000 in total.

Victims who were controlled through a combination of physical assault, threats of violence and forced debt bondage through false claims that they were owed money and forced to go out and deal the drugs.

But their operation was blown wide open when officers seized mobile phones used by the gang, with the seizure of weighing scales and wraps of clingfilm allowing forensic teams to provide further evidence.

Bean, of Tithe Barn Avenue, Maughan, of Badger Close and the 17-year-old boy were due to stand trial later this year, but guilty pleas entered at earlier hearings meant the trio have been sentenced today (Monday, April 28).

The trio pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine while the boy also pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

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Sentencing them, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, the Recorder of Sheffield, said: "Drug dealing is a pernicious trade, particularly when it involves Class A drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine. It is the foundation of much other criminality and sabotages the lives of those who are addicted to such drugs.

"Consequently, those who peddle those drugs must expect, and will receive, appropriate punishment."

Bean and Maughan were both jailed for a total of six years while Maughan was also disqualified from driving for a total of nine years.

The 17-year-old boy was sentenced to three years in a youth detention centre.

Detective Superintendent Nikki Shimwell, who spearheaded CHB in Woodhouse, said: "Today's sentencing would not have been possible without the daily intelligence gathering, safeguarding visits, and days of action that have taken place since we launched Clear Hold Build in Woodhouse.

"It would also not have been possible without the testimony provided by some of the vulnerable victims who were being exploited by this brutal gang. I'd like to thank them for their bravery in coming forward.

"I'd also like to thank all our teams who have worked so hard on this operation - and our partners for their support.

"Kai Bean, Tommy Maughan, and the boy who we are unable to name, caused misery in Woodhouse. I'm pleased they will now be serving time behind bars where they will be unable to cause any further harm to the community."

Acting Detective Sergeant Craig Winkless, who led this investigation, said: "Our work with the victims in this case was key to unlocking the true scale of the harm this trio were causing to the people of Woodhouse.

"Our teams have worked exceptionally hard to achieve today's result, and I'm pleased to see Maughan, Bean, and their teen accomplice brought to justice."

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