![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1_Lisa-Prescott-court-snatch.jpg\")
Lisa Prescott(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\nNine people are being sentenced for their role in the \u00a31.8m operation<\/p>\n
18:50, 11 Dec 2025Updated 20:09, 11 Dec 2025<\/p>\n
Lisa Prescott(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n
A mum who helped her gangster partner carry on his cocaine dealing business from prison was busted when police raided a north Manchester flat and brought down a \u00a31.8m drugs ring.<\/p>\n
Officers, who had been covertly watching members of the operation for almost six months, swooped on the property in Crumpsall in October last year after mum-of-three Lisa Prescott was seen meeting with a gang member. In a series of raids on the gang’s premises, officers seized 15 kilos of cocaine, six kilos of amphetamine, two kilos of heroin, and 7,000 ecstasy tablets. They also discovered \u00a375,000 in cash and 224 rounds of \u2018viable ammunition.\u2019<\/p>\n
One of those they arrested was Prescott, 40,<\/a> who was then the partner of James Close. Close, who was recently handed a 36-year sentence after being found guilty of drug and gun crimes, was a close associate of gangster Jamie Rothwell.<\/a><\/p>\n Prescott and Close, labelled a \u2018violent and dangerous criminal\u2019 by a judge, had been partners \u2018for many years\u2019 and shared a home together in Leigh, Manchester Crown Court<\/a> today (Thursday, December 11) heard.<\/p>\n As he awaited trial in connection with the case he was eventually jailed for, Close was remanded at HMP Forest Bank in Salford<\/a>. During this time, he relied upon Prescott to \u2018assist in the continuation of his drug business whilst in prison\u2019, said Andy Scott, prosecuting. The court was told Prescott was a \u2018facilitator\u2019 who \u2018worked \u2018under the complicit direction\u2019 of Close, who was a \u2018close associate\u2019 of Thomas Hunt.<\/p>\n Nine people involved in the drugs racket<\/p>\n Hunt \u2018sat at the head\u2019 of the drugs racket – for whom nine people are now being sentenced for their involvement – and was its operational leader, the court was told. He fled before he could be arrested and remains wanted by the police, Mr Scott told the court on the first day of a two-day sentencing hearing.<\/p>\n Other associates were apprehended, however. Dylan Robinson, 33, worked \u2018closely alongside\u2019 Hunt and \u2018was hands-on in the group\u2019s day-to-day operations’, the court was told. The pair were \u2018assisted\u2019 by Hunt\u2019s brother, Anthony Hunt, 40. To move the drugs, they relied upon trusted couriers, two of whom were 63-year-old Graham Sykes and 58-year-old Stanley Ainsley, the court was told.<\/p>\n Anthony Hunt\u2019s partner, Rachel Blackburn Stanley, 35, also helped him by driving him \u2018to, and from, the group\u2019s drug-storage locations\u2019 and to \u2018conduct two exchanges with Stanley Ainsley\u2019, Mr Scott said.<\/p>\n Thomas Lockwood, 60, was their \u2018product tester\u2019. Robert Earnshaw, 29, is the partner of Thomas Hunt\u2019s daughter and ‘ran his own localised drug dealership\u2019 linked to the conspiracy, Mr Scott said, and Aiden Hopkins, 31, who lived in Gosport, was a \u2018trusted courier\u2019 for a crime group based in and around the Hampshire town and who were customers of the Manchester ring.<\/p>\n The meeting that led to the empire crumbling as drugs worth \u00a31.8m seized<\/p>\n Prosecutors previously said it had been decided it was not in the public interest to bring another case against Close who was, in a separate case, linked to the dealing of 28 kilos of cocaine, and moved just under \u00a3500,000 of drugs money.<\/p>\n And the involvement of Close’s then-partner Prescott in the conspiracy \u2018only came to light\u2019, Mr Scott said, when she was observed meeting Anthony Hunt at a flat in Crumpsall on October 4. During a subsequent search of the flat, officers found 11kg of \u2018high-purity\u2019 cocaine, with an estimated wholesale value of between \u00a3308,000 and \u00a3352,000. Anthony Hunt\u2019s DNA was found on a disposable black glove, with Prescott\u2019s found on another.<\/p>\n Police also searched Prescott\u2019s Mercedes, and her home. They seized \u00a32,000 in cash from her car, with a further \u00a34,500 located in the electric meter cupboard. They also seized five mobile phones.<\/p>\n Blackburn-Stanley, who driven Anthony Hunt to the Crumpsall flat in an Audi, was arrested near her home in Moston<\/a> later that day. In the car was found a \u2018shopping list of items used in drug production.\u2019<\/p>\n A number of further raids were carried out, and arrests made, four days later, on October 8, which Mr Scott said had \u2018always been planned to be strike day for the investigation team.\u2019<\/p>\n Robinson was arrested at his home in Middleton<\/a> where 41.6kg of cocaine, just shy of half a kilo of diamorphine, and other drugs including cannabis gummies and ketamine were found. Robinson said ‘they belong to me.\u2019 More drugs, and the ammunition, were discovered at two storage units in Heywood<\/a>, which the court was told Robinson was \u2018responsible for.\u2019 The estimated street value of all the drugs seized was \u00a31.8 million.<\/p>\n On the second day of her trial in September<\/a>, Prescott changed her plea and admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine.<\/a> In a basis of plea she said that due to \u2018pressure against her and her family\u2019 she agreed to collect and drop a \u2018small quantity\u2019 of drugs.<\/p>\n She had \u2018no idea\u2019 about the 11kg seized at the Crumpsall flat, adding she acted \u2018underneath the direction of others\u2019 and had \u2018no influence over others.\u2019 Gulam Ahmed, defending her, said that \u2018immediate custody is not the only way the court can punish her\u2019 and asked for a sentence that \u2018allows her to keep her liberty.\u2019 The mum-of-three is no longer in a relationship with Close and is the \u2018sole carer of her children\u2019 including her young son, he added.<\/p>\n Rebecca Filletti, representing Blackburn-Stanley, also asked that she be allowed to \u2018remain in the community.\u2019 She said she had a number of \u2018vulnerabilities\u2019 and had showed \u2018understanding, acceptance and remorse.\u2019 Oliver Jarvis, representing Robinson, said that before his offending he was a \u2018dedicated and helpful father.\u2019<\/p>\n Mark Fireman, appearing on behalf of Graham Sykes, said his client had lost his job \u2018due to a heart condition\u2019 and that \u2018he and his wife had a mortgage to pay.\u2019 He said he was looking for \u2018legitimate work\u2019 when he became involved and that he had \u2018not been in trouble and not been in custody for a long time.\u2019<\/p>\n Andrew Hill, defending Stanely Ainsley, said his client had become involved as he was himself a \u2018drug user of class A.\u2019 Brendan O\u2019Leary, representing Anthony Hunt, said he had not \u2018sought to challenge significant amounts of the evidence\u2019 but that he \u2018maintains he was operating under the direction of others.\u2019<\/p>\n Chris Whitehouse, representing Aiden Hopkins, said at the time he was using \u2018great amounts\u2019 of cocaine and had run up a debt of \u00a32,000 he couldn\u2019t repay. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t use that as a justification or excuse,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Lockwood’s barrister will address the court on Friday, when Judge Peter Horgan is also due to pass sentence on all nine defendants.<\/p>\n Full list of defendants and their offences<\/strong><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_James-Close.jpg\")
James Close(Image: GMP)<\/p>\n![\"Caption:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_Manchester-Crown-Court-01-2JPG.jpg\")
Details of the drugs ring were heard on the first day of a two-day sentencing hearing at Manchester Crown Court(Image: MEN Media)<\/p>\n