A VULNERABLE Carlisle woman and a 17-year-old boy were exploited by drugs criminals to help run a 'county lines' operation supplying heroin and crack cocaine.

The city’s crown court heard that 35-year-old Kylie Crothers and her co-defendant Korben Bell, who is now 20, were preyed upon by an organised crime gang seeking access to Carlisle’s murky trade in illegal street drugs.

Both defendants pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of two types of class A drug, heroin and crack cocaine.

Prosecutor Brendan Burke said the offences came to light in September, 2019, when police became aware that a “county lines” drugs business was operating in Carlisle using a dedicated mobile phone number set up for that purpose.

Officers saw Bell – then aged just 17 – arrive in Carlisle after he made his way to the city via the M6 from from an area of the Northwest. He was seen visiting Crothers’ house and also going into a local Spar shop to top up a mobile phone – the one being used to market drugs.

In return for heroin, Crothers allowed her house to be used by the organised crime group and provided them with numbers for ten local addicts. “At this point,” said Mr Burke, “what is referred to in this trade as a ‘text-bomb’ went out, announcing the availability of ‘the best of both,’ meaning heroin and cocaine.”

Police were concerned about Bell, then a youth who was supposed to be under the care of a local authority.

Mr Burke continued: “On September 22, going on intelligence, police went to Balmoral Court [in Carlisle] and a man from Liverpool answered the door.” The officers had to force entry and inside they found items related to drug dealing.

This included the drugs phone and a set of scales and a “dealer’s list.”

Mr Burke said it was clear that the two defendants were being exploited by more sophisticated criminals and they had no influence over the dealing operation.

Crothers, of Sybil Street, Carlisle, who was said to have complex mental health needs, had long struggled with a drugs problem. But Recorder Tony Hawks noted that she had stayed out of trouble since committing the offences before the court.

The judge imposed an 18-month community order which includes 25 rehabilitation activity days, designed to ensure she gets the help she needs from the Probation Service.
The Recorder told Bell that he had built up a bad criminal record for such a young man and he was already serving a separate sentence for similar offending, also involving class A drugs.

“You were only 17 and I am happy to accept that you were being expoited by others more sophisticated than you,” the judge told him.

The Recorder imposed 12 months in a young offenders’ institution. But given the sentence Bell is currently serving, this sentence would not extend the period for which the defendant will spend in custody, added the judge