A ‘TRUSTED courier’ of drug for a lucrative cocaine gang has been jailed.

Anthony Bond, from Widnes, was handed four years and one month behind bars at Liverpool Crown Court this morning, Thursday.

The 39-year-old was part of a cocaine racket based in Warrington.

Bond played a ‘significant’ role, having become involved in the gang after running up debts from his drug habit.

He would regularly transport cocaine and cash on behalf of ringleader Lewis Turner.

When police raided his home on Lowerhouse Lane in July last year, cannabis with a street value of up to £7,710 was discovered inside.

The football coach claimed he was storing the class B drugs – which are though to be unrelated to the rest of the conspiracy – for ‘someone called Mark’.

Defence barrister Melania Bennett told the court that her client ‘lost the plot’ after losing his job shortly before Christmas 2018 and the death of his baby daughter the following month, leading to a ‘dramatic’ increase in his consumption of drugs.

Members of Turner and Morgan’s gang were jailed for a combined total of 24-and-a-half years.