DRUGS conspirators who brought at least £400,000 of cocaine into Worcester have been made subject to serious crime prevention orders to protect the public once they are released.

Ashley James, James Jones and Todd Porter who all received long, deterrent sentences in November 2017 for a cocaine conspiracy were made subject to the restrictive orders by judge Robert Juckes QC at Worcester Crown Court.

The orders restrict their use of mobile telephones and their ability to have bank accounts and will last for five years from their release.

An order imposed can relate to financial, property or business dealings or holdings and working arrangements and is designed to make it more difficult for people to commit serious offences again.

Ashley James, now 32, Todd Porter, also 32 and James Jones, 43, appeared via videolink from prison.

Prosecutor Sophie Murray said after the hearing: “These orders are reserved for the most serious of offences and are only made where there’s a significant risk of people committing further, similar offences in future. This will reduce their risk of further offending once released from custody.”

We reported how the gang brought at least £400,000 (12kg) of cocaine to Worcester. Between them the gang was jailed for a combined total of 75 years. A jury of seven women and five men delivered unanimous guilty verdicts.

During arrests and searches police seized more than £129,000 in cash and over two thirds of a kilo of cocaine worth between £24,000 and £35,000.

The bulk of the cocaine came from Liverpool but some had a more local source. The conspiracy lasted at least two years, beginning in 2013 and ending in October 2015 when arrests took place.

The gang leader Ashley James of Cherington Close, Worcester was jailed for 18 years for conspiracy to supply cocaine. He was also handed a five year concurrent prison sentence for concealing criminal property, or ‘money laundering’, spending the proceeds of cocaine dealing on a car, holidays, dental work, luxury hotel stays and presents for his partner.

James Jones, of Tolladine Road, Worcester was jailed for 15 years for conspiracy to supply cocaine and Todd Porter, of Hollymount Road, Worcester was jailed for 13 years for conspiracy to supply cocaine. He was described as the ‘main runner’, ‘middle man’ and a ‘trusted lieutenant’ who brought his younger sister Tiffany Porter, mother Deborah Crowther and mother’s partner, Lee Bryant, into the conspiracy.

The orders were made on Friday, January 11.