Successful prosecution for Nick Johnson QC and Stephen Grattage in drugs conspiracy case

April 1, 2016

Nick Johnson QC and Stephen Grattage from Exchange Chambers have successfully prosecuted a major drugs conspiracy and firearms case.

Jacob Mains, 28, Paul McQuade, 32, Connor Robson, 23, and Bronson Robinson, 24, were found guilty on all charges they faced at Teesside Crown Court.

The Middlesbrough men were all convicted of conspiring to supply cocaine, with Mains and McQuade also found guilty of offences relating to heroin and amphetamine, which they had denied.

They stood a three-week trial after police investigating a drugs gang in the town seized multiple kilos of Class A and B drugs and a firearm. They were part of a larger organised crime group operating in the Middlesbrough area, often working in tandem with a similar group in Darlington and organising frequent courier routes for drugs and money to and from West Yorkshire and further afield. The group deployed anti-surveillance techniques, such as using intermediaries and multiple phones for communications.

The jury of eight men and four women reached their unanimous decisions after just over seven hours’ consideration.

Judge Morris thanked them for their work in doing their public duty, and commended the police.

He told jurors: “It’ll be a sentence of some length, into double figures.”

Nick and Stephen are both members of the criminal department at Exchange Chambers.