THE leaders of a gang that brought hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of cannabis to the South West have been jailed after they were caught handing over seven kilograms of drugs.

Jeremy Williams and at least one associate were growing the cannabis in South Wales and making weekly trips to hand over the product at venues including Taunton and Honiton.

The police swooped in the car park of the Haldon Forest Diner, near Chudleigh, as Williams dropped off the crop in exchange for £22,720.

The cannabis was destined to be sold on the streets of Plymouth, where cleaning company boss Jason Goodman turned to drug dealing during the first Covid lockdown.

He arranged 26 different deliveries from Wales between May and October 2020, when police intercepted the final handover.

Goodman and Williams drew family members into the business, with Goodman’s father Michael making three trips to pick up drugs and Williams’s wife Susan helping grow them at their home in Port Talbot.

He also enlisted a friend to help and he was found with five adult plants and five seedlings in a growing tent.

Goodman controlled many of the handovers by phone and sent convicted killer Francis Fletcher to oversee eight of them.

Goodman, 32, of Stonehouse Road, Plymouth; his father Michael, 60, of Hollywood Terrace, Plymouth; Jeremy Williams, 64, of Morfa Road, Port Talbot; Fletcher, 47, of Wanstead Grove, Plymouth; all admitted conspiracy to supply cannabis.

Goodman was jailed for four years and one month, Williams for four years and nine months, and Fletcher for a year and nine months by Judge Anna Richardson at Exeter Crown Court.

Michael Williams received a 15-week suspended sentence.

Susan Williams, 59, and Richard Ludbrook, aged 47, of Ty R Owen Drive, Cwmavon, admitted production of cannabis and were both ordered to do 150 hours' unpaid community work.

The judge said: “Cannabis affects thousands of families whose children may use it as a stepping stone drug which may affect their mental health or harm their life chances.”

Peter Coombe, prosecuting, said Michael Goodman and Fletcher were arrested as they took delivery of seven kilos of cannabis in a laundry bag.

Phone evidence showed Williams or associates in Wales had made 26 trips, meeting Goodman or his proxies at Taunton, Honiton or Exeter.

Williams was found with six plants in a sophisticated three-lamp growing space which could nurture 27 plants at any one time and produce three harvests a year.

Defence lawyers for Williams and Goodman said they were driven into the business by the economic effects of the pandemic and lockdown.

Lawyers for the others said they played lesser roles and were following the orders of the two leaders.