Joe Hankin became an ‘important fish’ while ‘working at the coalface’ in the supply of heroin and cocaine
Joe Hankin, of Rishton Close in Everton, aged 29(Image: Merseyside Police)
A heroin and cocaine trafficker was involved in more than 3,000 separate drug deals. Joe Hankin was unmasked as being the controller of the “Jonesy line”, which was responsible for the supply of up to £350,000 of class A substances.
It came after he endured “possibly the worst year anybody could have”, amassing debts totalling thousands of pounds due to his own cocaine and ketamine habit following a series of bereavements. This led to him becoming an “important fish” while working “at the coalface” in the supply of drugs after his life “came off the rails”.
Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, that the “Jonesy drug line” operated in the Kirkby area from the beginning of April this year onwards, using six different phone numbers to send “regular bulk advertisement messages” to heroin and cocaine users. Hankin, of Rishton Close in Everton, was linked to five of these numbers due to his personal phone having co-located with them, as per cell siting data.
Christopher Taylor, prosecuting, described how the 29-year-old was also caught on CCTV in a shop in the process of purchasing a top-up card to be used as part of the operation. This led to his arrest on October 7, at which stage he was found to be in possession of a “Nokia burner phone”.
Messages sent and received by the drugs line indicated that a total of 3,121 deals had been completed during this six-month period, resulting in the supply of 2.8kg of heroin and cocaine, worth between £112,000 and £356,000. Hankin was previously handed 32 months in a young offenders’ institute for possession of heroin and cocaine with intent to supply at Stoke Crown Court in 2017.
Julian Nutter, defending, told the court: “He got involved in this as a result of possibly the worst year anybody could have in their lives. His grandmother, who was very close to him, died in January 2024. His relationship with his then partner came to an end after she lost a baby, tragically, in April 2024. Then, in October 2024, his father died in his arms.
“All of that led, initially, to the consumption of cannabis. He came off the rails. He rapidly advanced to the abuse of cocaine and ketamine. That escalated to a degree that it was out of control.
“That resulted, ultimately, in a drug debt for £5,000 and the sort of threats that go with drug debts of £5,000, and the obligation to participate in the dealing side of the drug enterprise. It is his case that his only benefit was to quash the debt.
“It is well known that those at the coalface, holding the graft phone, take the risks. Those who take the risks are not generally those who are taking the bulk of the profits. He is not the biggest of fish. He is an important fish, and I cannot argue otherwise.
“He has a serious aggravating feature in his previous conviction. He is extremely remorseful for what he has done. It is absolutely plain that the ketamine and cocaine got a hold of him.”
Hankin admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool wearing a grey Berghaus tracksuit top, he was jailed for 56 months.
A criminal behaviour order, running for five years from the date of his release, will meanwhile see him banned from owning more than one mobile phone and SIM card and require him to notify police of the details of such items. Sentencing, Recorder Timothy Hannam KC said: “You only have to walk through the centre of this great city to see the squalor that this trade has brought. It is a disgusting and selfish trade that destroys lives in return for profit.
“You were plainly an important part of the mechanism of the supply and were no doubt rewarded as such. Given your conviction in 2017 for possession with intent to supply class A drugs, this is a world which was not new to you.”