A dealer has been jailed for his role in a county lines drugs ring which that sold crack and heroin from the homes of vulnerable addicts.

Tommy Burnett was one of eight members of The Jay Boys, a gang from across north and east London, who supplied Class A drugs from bases in Clacton, Essex, over a three-year period.

The 21-year-old, of Trinity Close, Leytonstone, was jailed for three years and six months at Chelmsford Crown Court last Thursday (December 21), as one of eight members of the gang sentenced for conspiracy to supply drugs.

The Jay Boys targeted the homes of vulnerable addicts, using violence and intimidation. They took over their properties to use as a drug dealing base in a practice known as cuckooing.

The court was told how the gang would make an average of £2,000 to £3,000 a day supplying crack and heroin.

They would transport the drugs into Clacton from London and then use locally based runners to sell them before the gang pocketed the money.

However, the gang soon came to the attention of Essex Police, who began a three-year investigation.

Their work culminated in the execution of a warrant at the home of 45-year-old Steven Root in Hadleigh Road, Clacton, in February last year.

Root, a drug addict, had offered his flat to the Jay Boys gang as a drug dealing base. Inside, officers found cash, machetes and knives.

They also found mobile phones containing a series of incriminating texts linking him to the gang and showing he was acting as a runner for them.

During their investigation, the officers also seized 13 phones all used by the gang to arrange deals.

The gang members were all arrested and charged and an investigation into the Jay Boys found evidence of a drug dealing conspiracy stretching back to 2014.

Financial enquiries carried out into each member showed that between 2010 and 2017, most of the gang had no official taxable source of income.

During the trial, the jury also heard from a former member of the Jay Boys who told how he was recruited on Facebook.

He told the court how he was paid £100 each day to deliver crack and heroin, despite the gang earning up to £3,000 a day.

The entire gang was sentenced last week to a collective total of 41 years behind bars.

Investigating officer, PC James Pamment, said: “The severity of the sentences handed down to the Jay Boys gang reflect the seriousness with which both we and the courts treat those involved in drug and gang-related crime.

“This gang, and those like them, prey on our communities, exploiting the vulnerable and using violence to sell drugs on our streets.

“As long as criminals like the Jay Boys continue to attempt to sell drugs in Essex, we will continue to hunt them down.”