A father-of-four became involved in his brother-in-law’s drug trafficking operation after his employer went bust and he fell into debt, a court has heard.
Ricole Douglas-Francis, 31, of Croydon Road in Anerley, south London, was jailed on Monday (July 20) as one of the line-holders for a county lines drug operation.
His partner’s brother, Keian Creary, ran the so-called “Cash line”, which funnelled kilograms of cocaine and heroin from London to Southend, to be sold to addicts on the street by a network of runners which included children.
Serially convicted drug dealer Creary, 33, of Arbrook Close in Orpington, was jailed for 12 years for masterminding the scheme.
Prosecutor Laura Kenyon said Douglas-Francis was a man of previous good character, with “no convictions, cautions, warnings or reprimands” at all to his name.
He served as Creary’s line holder – meaning he sent out marketing messages, took orders and directed runners to make deliveries – between March and May of 2025.
Defence barrister Roderick James said 2024 saw the birth of Douglas-Francis’s fourth child, “meaning he was the father of, and financially responsible for, four children under ten.
“That, however, sadly coincided with him losing his long-term employment.”
He didn’t begin job-hunting, the lawyer said, because he was led to believe his former employer would offer him an alternative position – but then the company “went insolvent” altogether.
“Further delays with him being able to set up and get onto Universal Credit meant that very quickly, the family couldn’t resist its own outgoings,” the lawyer said.
Douglas-Francis fell into “substantial debt”.
“It was in those circumstances, and very much feeling the responsibility and burden to provide, that the opportunity to earn a replacement source of income was offered through offending,” Mr James continued.
“He accepts that he made a very poor decision in those circumstances to take it.
“Reflecting with the benefit of hindsight, he realises that because that opportunity came through a close, trusted source – a family connection – and because his activity was remote, without any hands-on selling or even involvement with drugs themselves, distanced from that he was able, in the moment, to justify being involved.”
He was “rather deceiving himself as to what he was involved in,” the lawyer added.
Catch up:
- Jailed: County lines gang flooded Southend with kilos of cocaine and heroin
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A probation pre-sentence report said Douglas-Francis turned to criminality “during a period of acute personal stress”, which saw him become unemployed right at a moment of “increased financial responsibility”.
That “impaired his judgement”, and he “underestimated the impact of his actions and the level of responsibility he was assuming,” the report said.
Mrs Kenyon countered that Douglas-Francis was well aware that what he was doing was wrong.
He hid two drugs phones in his children’s bedroom – one in a holdall and the other in the pocket of one of his children’s jackets.
Messages recovered by police showed Douglas-Francis would report difficulty with the runners’ performance, such as being late starting work, to Creary and “request Mr Creary’s assistance to deal with it.”
But, said Mr James, his client’s naivety about criminal activity was demonstrated by the fact that he used his personal phone to conduct business relating to the drugs line.
On occasions, said the lawyer, messages showed the runners telling Douglas-Francis what to do, as opposed to the other way around.
“When problems or difficulties arise, they are immediately passed on, rather than dealt with in any managerial function by Mr Douglas-Francis,” he argued.
His client was paid only £300 per week, he said – less than other line holders who worked for Creary.
Judge Siew Loke said she had read a letter from him in which Douglas-Francis expressed what she felt was genuine remorse.
But, she said: “You were well aware of the scale of the operation.”
She jailed him for 38 months.
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