Man jailed after £6,000 worth of cocaine and heroin found in Hemel Hempstead

Michael Blake, age 40, of The Close, Lyon Park Avenue, Wembley, appeared at Luton Crown Court on 23 December where he was sentenced to seven years in prison.

In June 2019, officers from the Dacorum Scorpion Team, supported by the St Albans Scorpion Team, carried out a warrant at an address in Hemel Hempstead. Operation Scorpion is the Constabulary’s initiative to drive down serious acquisitive crime, relentlessly pursue criminals, bring them to justice and make the county a more hostile place for them to operate.

During the warrant, the teams found £6,000 worth of cocaine and heroin. Blake was subsequently arrested after attempting to escape through an open window. He then became the subject of an investigation led by Operation Mantis - a team of detectives who are tasked with tackling County Lines gangs.

Officers seized a Nokia mobile phone which had been found during the warrant and discovered that it contained numerous text messages offering recipients crack and heroin for sale.

On 27 June, Blake was charged and remanded with possession of cocaine and heroin with intent to supply.

PC Taylor, from the Dacorum Scorpion Team, said:

“Drugs and their associated criminality have a devastating impact on communities, in particular on vulnerable members of society.

“This result is a good example of multiple police teams working together to keep you safe and because of this work, we’ve managed to remove £6000 worth of Class A drugs from the streets of Hemel Hempstead, which would have undoubtedly caused harm to a lot of people.

“We will continue to do all we can to disrupt the local drugs trade and I urge anyone who has any concerns about drug use in their local area to get in touch so we can take action.”

If you are worried about drug use or dealing in your local area, you can report information online at herts.police.uk/report, speak to an operator in our Force Communications Room via our online web chat at herts.police.uk/contact or call the non-emergency number 101.

If a crime is in progress or someone’s life is in danger, call 999 immediately. Alternatively, you can stay 100% anonymous by contacting the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via their untraceable online form at crimestoppers-uk.org.