A former policeman who ran a cocaine dealing operation from his old force area in Manchester to his new home in Devon has been jailed.

Gary Parkinson had a leading role in the conspiracy and developed the supply line to Devon through his contacts in Manchester where he had served in the Greater Manchester force for 14 years.

Exeter Crown Court heard fellow conspirator Warren Harrison, now 64, sourced the cocaine and drove it to Devon.

Parkinson put up the money for the class A drugs and sold on the drugs for “significant financial advantage”, a judge was told today (Monday, May 18).

Between November 2019 and January 2022 when police busted the operation, two kilos of cocaine had been supplied with a street value of around £160,000 in nine trips from Hyde in Manchester.

Parkinson, now 45, was arrested in a car with £7,000 cash and a dealer's list of customers who owed him money ranging from £11,700 to £2,500.

The court heard Parkinson, who had left the police the year before the conspiracy began, had moved to live in the village of Clawton near Holsworthy.

Parkinson's barrister Harry Laidlaw told the court he fully accepted his role in a “relatively small drugs operation between Manchester and the Devon area”.

He said the national and international links to suppliers was “very much the remit of others”.

"This was not conducted when he was a police officer and there is no suggestion he made use of information as a police officer to pursue this venture," said the lawyer.

The court heard that since his arrest Parkinson had not been involved in any more criminality and there had been a significant delay since he entered his guilty plea in 2022.

Mr Laidlaw said:"It has been blindingly obvious what he was going to get when this day was going to come."

He said Parkinson had had his final meal with family and friends several times but sentence had been put off and this has had an impact on him.

"He has committed the crime and he has to do the time," he added.

The court was told Parkinson was injured when serving in the police and in 2018 he suffered a very serious injury in a quad bike accident which meant it was impossible for him to continue as a police officer.

His entire abdominal wall had to be reconstructed and Parkinson is due to undergo more surgery in the next few weeks to insert mesh to prevent his bowel moving.

Mr Laidlaw said:"He has very serious physical issues."

And he also revealed that Parkinson has had a genetic test for Huntington's Disease which has come back positive for the incurable and terminal disease which breaks down nerve cells in the brain leading to cognitive decline.

Mr Laidlaw added that Parkinson was a “reliable, caring, decent” man of high integrity before he made “very poor and wrong decisions”.

He said: "He has accepted what he has done. He has not shied away from his own actions," adding that financial difficulties seemed to be behind his offending.

Judge Stephen Climie jailed him for six years and four months. The judge said it was a “very serious offence” committed after serving for nearly 15 years as a police officer.

He said Parkinson's financial problems led to him setting up the drugs line between Manchester and Devon and he played a leading role in that.

Judge Climie said his guilty plea, significant health issues and the stress and anxiety caused by the delay in the case which “extended to years rather than weeks or months” meant he could reduce the sentence from ten years to six years and four months.

A Proceeds of Crime confiscation hearing will be held later.