Seven-year sentence for first Op Lionheart defendants

Three Loughborough drug dealers who admitted 33 offences between them are the first to be sentenced as part of Operation Lionheart.

Gareth Clowes, Joshua Gunn and Dominic Hodges were yesterday (13 May) given a total of seven years and three months in prison, for offences which include the sale and distribution of cocaine and heroin.

Clowes, 44, of Selbourne Street, Loughborough, received two years and eight months for two counts of supplying class A drugs on 5 November 2018, attempted burglary and possession of a bladed article in a public place.

He was detained by police minutes after attempting to break into a shop in Nottingham Road, Loughborough, in the early hours of 16 April 2019.

A bag containing two crowbars, a torch and a screwdriver was located nearby and keys belonging to him, which had been sharpened to resemble a small knife point, were also seized.

At the time of the offence, officers were out locating suspects as part of Operation Lionheart and Clowes was one of the people they were looking to locate.

Gunn, of Queens Road, Loughborough, was given two years and one month for 12 counts of supplying class A and two counts of being concerned in the supply of class A.

The 12 direct ‘deals’ of cocaine and heroin relate to eight separate dates in 2018 where a total of 16 drug ‘wraps’ were given in exchange for cash. On the other two occasions, the 18-year-old was present during a deal but did not directly supply the drugs.

At a court hearing yesterday, 20-year-old Hodges, of Blake Drive, Loughborough, admitted supplying cocaine and heroin 15 times. These occurred on 11 separate dates, from September 2018 to January 2019. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

Clowes and Gunn admitted their offences at a previous hearing at Leicester Magistrates’ Court.

Chief Superintendent Adam Streets, head of Local Policing, said: “Operation Lionheart is the force’s large-scale operation to crackdown on those responsible for selling and distributing drugs on the streets of Leicester, Leicester and Rutland.

“It has been a huge undertaking for police for many months, in particular since the enforcement phase began at the start of April.

“These three defendants committed a number of drug offences, including supplying cocaine and heroin in Loughborough. They have admitted these offences and following their imprisonment are no longer able to deal drugs to people in our communities.”