A CREDITON man who sold cannabis on behalf of a massive drug dealing network has been spared jail.

Jonathan Keene operated at the bottom of a chain of supply that originated in Spain and London and brought vast amounts of cannabis and cocaine to Devon and Cornwall.

He obtained his drugs from the older brother of the mastermind of the scheme Philip Fallows, who ran it alongside Hertfordshire based businessman Jamie Chapman.

The two men brought at least 390 kilograms of cannabis and 18.8 kilograms of cocaine into the region.

Chapman’s role was to buy from contacts in London and Spain while Fallows ran the distribution network in the South West. 

Chapman used his 67-year-old father Paul, who lived just outside Sidmouth, as the main courier, making 47 weekly trips to Cheshunt in Hertfordshire to pick up seven kilos of cannabis per journey while delivering vast amounts of cash to pay for it.

Fallows’s older brother George and a friend ran distribution hubs in Ottery St Mary and supplied Keene with the drugs he sold to fellow users in Crediton.

He only dealt in cannabis and never got involved with cocaine.

The network extended to Cornwall where  organiser Matthew Topham recruited his next door neighbour Jack Cullip to sell both types of drugs all over Cornwall.

The scheme lasted for 14 months before police broke it up, first by arresting Paul Chapman as he arrived home with a car full of cannabis in May 2022 and then through simultaneous raids on Fallows, Topham and many of the others in late August 2024.

Keene was at George Fallows home in Ottery St Mary when it was raided by police and officers found messages on his mobile telephone which showed he had been offering and delivering cannabis to contacts in Crediton.

Jamie Chapman and Philip Fallows were buying the drugs in bulk from mysterious contacts in London and Spain known only as Harry and Big Jim.

They started by just selling cannabis but diversifying into cocaine in 2022.

They set up their own channel named South Coast on the encrypted social media app Signal and adjusted the settings to ensure that most of their messages were deleted automatically.

The amounts of drugs and cash involved were huge. The estimated street value of the cannabis alone was almost £4 million.

Police seized £11,000 cash and three kilos of cannabis from Philip Fallows’ properties in Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton and more at his brother’s and Topham’s homes.

The amount of cash deposited into the gang’s bank accounts was more than £350,000 but much larger sums were sent back to pay for previous supplies and fund expansion and new purchases.

Some of the cannabis seized had been pressed into rectangular ingots and stamped with a version of the Emporio Armani logo.

The gang are being sentenced over two days by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court, where they have all admitted conspiracy or drugs offences.

Keene, aged 33, of Willow Walk, Crediton, admitted conspiracy to supply cannabis and was ordered to do 140 hours of unpaid community work and pay £600 costs.

The judge told him: “I’m not going to elevate your activities by saying you were the Crediton end of this conspiracy but you were supplying cannabis as part of the overall operation.”

He noted that Keene had entered a basis of plea, which was accepted by the prosecution, which said he had made no personal profit from his dealing, adding “it appears you made no money whatsoever from dealing cannabis on the street”.

Mr Joss Ticehurst, prosecuting, said Chapman sourced the drugs in London and Spain and his father made 47 trips to deliver them to Sidmouth, from where they were passed on to several sub dealers in East Devon and Topham in Cornwall.

The scheme started with cannabis in June 2021 but went on to supply cocaine. All the 12 people involved had different roles, with Bayliss being the least, having acted driver for one trip to and from London.

Keene was arrested when police raided George Fallows’ home in August 2022 and the case against him relied on evidence on his phone and admissions he made to police.

Miss Bathsheba Cassels, for Keene, said he had a lesser role and had not been involved in the large scale conspiracy or had any way of knowing its size and scope.

He was a heavy user of cannabis and had sold the drug to pay for his own habit rather than to make money.

Defence barristers who mitigated for all the other defendants sentenced said they got involved because of their own drug use or financial hardship.

The full list of those who have admitted supplying class A or B drugs and their sentences (so far) is below:

Philip Fallows, aged 36, of Cotmaton Road, Sidmouth. Seven years, eight months.

Jamie Chapman, aged 33, of Old North Road, Hertfordshire, six years, 10 months.

Matthew Harris, aged 55, of Albion Street, Exmouth. 240 hours unpaid work.

George Fallows, aged 40, of Mill Street, Ottery St Mary. To be sentenced later.

Damien Carnell, aged 37, of Manstone Avenue, Sidmouth. Two years, seven months.

Paul Chapman, aged 67, of South Lawn, Sidford. Three years, three months.

Gary Hedgeland, aged 31, of Sunny Hill, Ottery St Mary. A year and eight months suspended for two years with 210 hours unpaid work.

Jonathan Keene, aged 33, of Willow Walk, Crediton. 140 hours unpaid work.

Tia Pryor-Howard, aged 24, of Vaughan Road, Exeter. One year, nine months suspended for two years, 180 hours unpaid work, 20 rehabilitation days.

Matthew Topham, aged 30, of Willowbank, Camelford. Four years, 10 months.

Jack Cullip, aged 24, of Willowbank, Camelford. Two years, nine months.

Scott Bayliss, aged 44, of Albion Street, Exmouth, 210 hours unpaid community work and 20 days of rehabilitation activities.

Zoe Mardon, aged 47, of Waters Road, Salisbury, has admitted being concerned in the supply of cannabis. 70 hours unpaid work and 10 rehabilitation activity days.