Two graft phone numbers were used to send flare messages to known drug users in the Wirral
Danielle Gaunt, of Bramwell Close, Noctorum(Image: Liverpool Echo)
A couple became involved in the street supply of crack cocaine and heroin due to their own drug addictions. Simon Kelly, 34, and Danielle Gaunt, 36, were both involved in the “Jimmy line” drugs ring, supplying class A drugs to the Wirral area between April and June last year.
The couple were discovered as part of a police investigation dubbed Operation Toxic, which forms part of Project Medusa, a Merseyside-led initiative set up to tackle suspected County Lines drug dealing and child criminal exploitation across the country.
The investigation discovered two “graft” phone numbers used to send flare messages to known drug users in the Wirral, advertising the sale of crack cocaine and heroin. The phones were traced to Kelly and Gaunt, who were also spotted topping up one of the phones in a local shop.
At Liverpool Crown Court yesterday, prosecutor Simon Leong said: “On July 10 2025, police attended Bramwell Close (Noctorum) and executed a search warrant. Both Kelly and Gaunt were present. The search located a small amount of cannabis and it was found the electricity meter had been breached. Kelly made admissions to these matters at the scene.
“Police seized SIM cards, mobile phones, scales, and a list of names and numbers hidden inside a DVD case.”
Simon Kelly, of no fixed abode, formerly of Liscard, pleaded guilty to two counts of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs (crack cocaine and heroin), possession of cannabis, and abstracting electricity. He had 26 convictions for 32 offences, including “numerous convictions for violence – battery, affray, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, wounding, robbery, attempted robbery, criminal damage, breach of a restraining order, and theft”.
Simon Kelly, of no fixed abode, formerly of Liscard(Image: Merseyside police)
Danielle Gaunt, of Bramwell Close, Noctorum, pleaded guilty to two counts of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs (crack cocaine and heroin). She was described as “lightly convicted” with assault in 2005 and travelling on a railway without payment in 2012.
Julian Nutter, defending Kelly, said: “He has been addicted to drugs for a very long time in his life, since he was the age of 13. Although there’s the aggravating factor of previous dealing in class B drugs, there’s the mitigating factor of providing drugs to which you are addicted, and there’s also the fact that he appears to be used by others over a drugs debt.
“He was not a stakeholder in this enterprise, but was put to work. He knows where he is going. It’s immediate custody, it cannot be anything else.”
Max Saffman, defending Gaunt, said: “I don’t mitigate that she was coerced or intimidated by Kelly. But it’s to note that she has been in a relationship with Kelly for eight years. There’s a history of violence between the pair of them, and in fact some years ago she obtained an injunction against him. Despite that, they did reconcile.
“It’s clear Kelly was the senior partner in this relationship in relation to drugs, and she became involved through a combination of naivete and to fund her own drug addiction.”
He said Gaunt was spending “up to £200 a week” to feed her cocaine addiction. He said: “Drugs have been the bane to Gaunt’s life. Sadly she has six children, but due to her drug use, none of them live with her. She has been unable to form any proper relationship with any of her children and the reason for that is her drug use.
“It’s evidence that Gaunt has demonstrated a flaw in her consequential thinking skills. The quickest way she could think to get her hands on cocaine was to involve herself with her partner. She has recognised her need to change, and that’s important.”
Sentencing Kelly, judge recorder Mark Cooper said: “You were not supplying drugs on a commercial scale but equally you were not forced to supply the drugs and you were not naïve about what you were doing. You were aware and understood what you were doing.
“The offences are aggravated by your previous convictions, 26 convictions for 32 offences. The majority re offences of violence, but it’s pertinent you were convicted of possession with intent to supply class B drugs in 2022, for which you received an eight month suspended sentence, and also for possession of class A in 2023.
“I bear in mind you have suffered from your own drug addition and a long period of time and I accept you were paying off a drug debt rather than making a significant amount of money for personal gain.”
He sentenced Kelly to a total of four years and three months in prison.
To Gaunt, he said: “I accept that you had a lesser role. You had no operational or managerial role, you were not expecting any significant financial reward, you were performing a limited role under direction, and you had no contact with those (on the Jimmy line) above you.
“I accept that Kelly was the main partner in this drug selling enterprise. I bear in mind the history of violence in your relationship and I have also heard about the six children you have who sadly do not live with you. It seems drugs have been the bane of your life. you recognise there’s a need for change and it appears to me that you’re motivated to effect that change in your life.”
He added: “I’m going to exercise mercy and give you the opportunity to get your life right as I have been urged to do. You have escaped immediate custody by the skin of your teeth.”
Members of the public gallery cried as Gaunt was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years. She was also given 10 rehabilitation days, a 12 month drug rehabilitation requirement, and a £1,000 fine.