Police are hoping to erect a metaphorical "ring of steel" around Skelmersdale to prevent ruthless city gangsters ensnaring local youths in drug running.
Local Chief Inspector Chris Abbott, of Lancashire Police, spoke to the ECHO about efforts to tackle serious and organised crime in the West Lancashire area in the wake of a successful and unusual operation which saw two rival drug trafficking gangs taken down at the same time.
The force worked with Lincolnshire Police to target a group of drug dealers openly selling heroin and crack cocaine in Lincoln town centre, and sometimes engaging in violent and public clashes with each other. An investigation found that one group, nicknamed the 'Jimmy Line', was directing the supply of drugs from Skelmersdale while the other, the 'Django Line', was based in Nottingham.
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CI Abbott told the ECHO one strategy involves working out where "it all begins" and "breaking the cycle" between low-level anti social behaviour and more serious offending, as children get older. As well as the impact on local communities, experts say that youths mixed up in causing misery on the streets are susceptible to older, more sophisticated criminals.
CI Abbott said: "What we have seen; you look at the low-level anti-social behaviour, you will have the kids on the outside of the group, who may be just following along and are quite vulnerable in their own right and it's about engaging that group but targeting the more serious offenders.
"There are links to other youths who have been getting involved in drug-dealing and more serious crime. You start seeing a big over-lap and you start to break that cycle.
"You sense that over time they progress from low-level anti-social behaviour, then they will go out dealing a little bit of cannabis, and then harder stuff, then they're part of an organised crime group. Then next thing, they're being sent to Lincoln to deal drugs on the county lines."
As well as dealing with organised criminals born and bred in the local area, Skelmersdale's proximity to Merseyside and Greater Manchester means it is forced to deal with the encroachment of hardened criminal groups from outside Lancashire's border.
In January 2021, three men from Liverpool were jailed over the brutal murder of a local man, Robert Beattie, who was squirted with petrol and set alight at his doorstep in Waverly. Prosecutors argued the attack was related to efforts to enforce the dominance of a Liverpool drugs gang over the town's drugs trade.
Connah Jenkinson, then 25, from Tuebrook, was convicted of murder and arson and jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years. Accomplices John O'Brien, from Walton and, Joseph McEwan, from Fazakerley, were convicted of manslaughter and arson. They were handed sentences of 15 years and 13 years respectively.
CI Abbott said dealing with unruly youths in the town and relentlessly targeting gangs from outside the area has the effect of deterring more sophisticated criminal networks from trying to groom and manipulate young people.
He said: "The whole geography of where Skelmersdale is we do get an awful lot, there's absolutely still that larger organised crime network coming into Skelmersdale. We do have a number of people at the moment and the message is we are dealing with them.
"There's absolutely still that link, but we're trying to make it so difficult for them in Skelmersdale, so there is a ring of steel if you like around it."
CI Abbott said there are more ongoing operations like the one that took down the Jimmy Line, which saw drug bosses in the town living "lavish lifestyles" off the dirty profits of the heroin trade in Lincoln. He also highlighted that the force has strong links with Merseyside, Cheshire and Greater Manchester police forces as well as the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit and the National Crime Agency.
Anyone who has any suspicion about organised criminal activity can contact police on 101. You can also speak to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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