SIMPSON: DEALERS HAD UZI AMONG WEAPONS ARSENAL
Two convicted drug dealers caught with an arsenal of guns and more than £150,000 of heroin have been jailed for a total of 24 years.
Police discovered a loaded Uzi sub-machine gun, a Glock 20 self-loading pistol and a Kimar 85 auto self-loading pistol in a holdall in a safe house used by Gerald Simpson, 29, and Jerome Nelson, 30.
Officers also recovered 1.2kg of heroin, 4.5g of crack-cocaine, a drugs press, a money counter, and more than £20,000 from a flat in Battersea where the two men had been seen.
Simpson, a former hospital porter, was arrested as he left the flat and ex-delivery driver Nelson was picked up after CCTV showed him visiting the property to drop off the bag-load of guns.
When police searched Simpson’s home address in Stockwell officers discovered £2,700 of crack-cocaine and more than £1,000 in cash.
Nelson was arrested outside Tulse Hill railway station, in south-east London and was found to be carrying nearly 300g of heroin, which was said to be worth close to £2,000.
Today both men were jailed for 12 years each.
Southwark Crown Court heard the raid on the flat in Whitgift House, in Randall Close, was carried out by the Met’s Special Projects Team, which is tasked with fighting organised crime.
Jailing the duo, Judge John Price said: I’ve no doubt [the flat] was used to store drugs and, more importantly, to store guns and it was used as a safe house for doing that.’
Turning to Simpson, who was caught carrying a set of keys to the house, he added: ‘This was not a case of importation and you cannot be put as the head man.
‘But, you had access, you knew of heroin and the crack-cocaine and you would have sold some of it on so, to that extent, you had control and custody that is clear.
‘You also knew there were firearms there.’
He continued: ‘The seriousness of these matters can’t be over emphasised; drugs and guns go together in a violent world where these guns can be used to lethal effect.’
Simpson, of (Flat 26), Hannah Barlow House, Portland Grove, Stockwell, southwest London; pleaded guilty earlier this year to three counts of possession of a controlled drug of class A with intent to supply; three counts of possession of a prohibited weapon; and one count of possession of ammunition.
The court heard he had been jailed in April 2005 for two years for possession of heroin and crack-cocaine with intent to supply.
Nelson, of (19A) Mitcham Lane, in Streatham, southwest London, pleaded guilty to possession of heroin with intent to supply and was convicted by a jury earlier this week (MON) of conspiracy to possess prohibited weapons.
He was jailed for five years in 2005 for possession with intent to supply heroin and possession of a prohibited weapon.
Both men were jailed for 12 years each.
ENDS
