A mentally ill drug addict became involved in a south Essex drug trafficking operation in order to work off his own debt, his lawyer claimed.
Tony Dicker, 35, of Hilton Road, Canvey Island, was jailed last week for his role in a county lines drugs operation which transported kilos of cocaine and heroin from London to Southend.
When Essex Police tried to arrest him last September, he led them on a chase through Southend city centre in the white van he used to courier the Class A drugs.
He sped up roads including Victoria Avenue and Queensway, jumping red lights and crossing central reservations to drive into oncoming traffic.
He was eventually arrested in Lifstan Road.
The drugs operation – known as the “Cash line” – helped supply Southend addicts for at least 16 months.
Basildon Crown Court heard Dicker worked for the organised crime outfit between August and September 2025, taking over from a predecessor who was stabbed.
He was in post for only three weeks before the police chase which helped bring the gang’s operations to an end.
Prosecutors said Dicker had played a managerial role as a “line holder”, whereas his defence argued he had simply been a courier.
Judge Siew Loke sided with the prosecution, finding he had played “a significant role”.
“You directed the runners,” she said. “You also delivered stocks of Class A drugs to Southend.”
As line holder, Dicker operated the phone which sent out marketing messages to drug users, taking their orders and then dispatching runners – some of them children – to complete the deals.
The line’s head honcho was Keian Creary, a long-time member of the notorious Get Money Gang (GMG), ranked by police in 2017 as the second most dangerous street gang in Britain.
The court heard Dicker also had links to GMG.
“He was someone who was vulnerable and exploited by Mr Creary,” defence barrister Ishaq Usama claimed.
“He has an extensive mental health history and issues with drugs and alcohol. It is because of that addiction to drugs that he was involved in this offence.”
He said Dicker had taken the role as a way of working off his own debt, having succumbed to addiction after a traumatic childhood.
“He was abandoned by his father before being abused by his stepfather,” Mr Usama alleged.
His client had also been “bullied in school for his physical appearance”.
He had diagnoses of bipolar disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and had made previous attempts on his own life.
He had been diagnosed with severe mental health problems since the age of eight and become involved in crime as a child.
The majority of his 30 prior offences – including numerous burglaries, vehicle taking and handling stolen goods – were committed as a youth to try to fund his drug habit.
At age 15, said Mr Usama, Dicker “was stabbed by the GMG gang.”
But he had last been before the courts seven years before his arrest over the Cash line.
“There is clear evidence of Mr Dicker being a vulnerable person who was exploited by those higher up in the chain,” Mr Usama contended.
“He was only involved for three weeks. It is unlikely, considering his mental health and vulnerabilities, that he would have been given a managerial role for such a short period of time.”
“Well, I don’t expect he thought he was going to be arrested,” Judge Loke countered.
She ruled Dicker had played a “significant role” and there was “no evidential basis” for any suggestion of coercion through, for example, violence or threats.
“I do however accept that you were a heavy drug user and subject to exploitation,” she said.
She sentenced him to 42 months in prison for the drug dealing, plus an extra four months consecutive for the dangerous driving.
He will serve 40% before becoming eligible for release on licence, minus the almost 11 months he had already spent on remand.
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