Colchester: Lee Brown and Sancha Corby jailed for drug line

Lee Brown and Sancha Corby were both in bed when police carried out an early morning raid at their accommodation in Charles Pell Road in Colchester on July 9, Ipswich Crown Court was told.

The drug line was found on the bed between them and when it was examined it was found to have sent out bulk marketing messages advertising the sales of drugs and received messages from customers placing orders.

Lee Brown, of Colchester (Image: Essex Police)

An expert who examined the messages estimated that the value of drugs involved could have been as much as £52,000.

The court heard that both defendants gave no comment answers during police interviews.

Sentencing the pair at Ipswich Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Nicola Talbot-Hadley said they were both drug addicts and the money they were making from selling drugs had been used to feed their own habits.

She said it was a significant operation being run jointly by both of them to supply drugs in the north Essex city.

Sancha Corby, of Colchester (Image: Essex Police)

Brown, 54, and Corby, 28, who are both of Charles Pell Road in Colchester, both admitted being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin between February 12 and July 8 this year.

They were each jailed for a period of 28 months and Corby, who was in breach of a suspended sentence order, was jailed for an additional six weeks.

The court heard that Brown, who has 29 previous convictions, had not previously served a prison sentence and that Corby, who has 61 previous convictions, had a long-standing drug addiction.

A hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act will take place after March next year after investigators have assessed both defendants' assets.