Crime family and associates were involved in trading millions of pounds worth of drugs

Ian Shacklady, 67, Gillian Melville, 66, and her son Alan Causer, 45, were investigated by officers from the Merseyside Organised Crime Partnership, a joint National Crime Agency and Merseyside Police unit.

They and their co-conspirators John Germaine, 35, and Daniel Heeley, 32, were handed prison terms totalling 61 years.

Shacklady and Causer used a van containing a purpose-built compartment, controlled by hydraulics that were activated from cup holders, to transport class A drugs around the country.

That vehicle was recovered on September 15, 2021 in Skelmersdale. ANPR data showed it had made more than 40 trips across the UK.

Shacklady and his partner Melville, both of Marchbank, Skelmersdale, were found counting cash in a bedroom.

In the room were bags containing £254,695, as well as a number of elastic bands. A search of the property revealed a further £146,869, as well as cannabis with a wholesale value of £16,000.

But this discovery was only a proportion of the total amount made by the group.

Two ledgers were found, containing lists consistent with the supply of at least 360kg of cocaine and 25kg of heroin. There were also entries showing the collection and delivery of more than £1.4m in cash.

Germaine was identified partly through text messages, calls and written logs, which showed he had managed the supply of at least 12kg of class A drugs, either by arranging delivery or directing others to carry it out.

Shortly before the police arrived at the Skelmersdale address, he had responded to a request from Shacklady to provide “some elastic bands” to count and band cash. His fingerprints were found on money seized there.

Heeley played an integral part in the supply of large quantities of drugs to Morecambe and Barnard Castle, using separate phone numbers to keep in contact with Shacklady, Causer and Germaine.

Causer, Shacklady, Melville and Germaine pleaded guilty to offences relating to the supply of drugs and the possession of criminal property, with Heeley pleading guilty on the first day of a trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

Now, Causer, of Sherrat Street, Skelmersdale, has been jailed for 18 years, Germaine, of Holt Drive, Burscough, was jailed for 16 years, Shacklady was jailed for 12 years and Heeley, of Rylstone Drive, Heysham, was jailed for 15 years. Melville received a 23-month suspended sentence.

Germaine was already in prison, serving nine years and two months in relation to the seizure of 9kg of cocaine and more than 6kg of cannabis.

The drugs were stored in a unit in Burscough and almost £18,000 cash was found in his white Ford Kuga in September 2021. The new sentence will be added to the existing one.

Shacklady previously served time in jail for his role in a separate conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Richard Harrison, regional head of investigations north at the National Crime Agency, said: “This was a significant crime group that according to its own records was trading in class A drugs worth millions of pounds.

“These criminals think nothing of the harm that the class A drugs trade brings to communities in the North-West and all around the country.”