A former police officer was jailed today for setting up a county lines drug supply network from his old force area to a quiet Devon town.

Gary Parkinson, who left Greater Manchester Police due to injury, arranged for cocaine to be trafficked 240 miles for sale around Crediton, Devon.

In just seven weeks between November 2019 and January 2020, when police busted the illicit operation, two kilogrammes of the drug had been supplied with a street value of around £160,000.

Now the 45-year-old is starting a jail term of six years and four months after admitting conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

A court heard Parkinson, who moved to the South West to be close to his parents, was a 'reliable, caring, decent' man, previously of ‘high integrity’, but had made 'very poor and wrong decisions'.

Exeter Crown Court heard the former policeman developed the County Lines supply operation through contacts in Manchester.

Parkinson put up the money for the class A drugs and sold them on for 'significant financial advantage', a judge was told.

A fellow conspirator made nine trips driving the cocaine from Hyde, Greater Manchester, to Devon, the court heard.

Parkinson was arrested in a car with £7,000 cash and a dealer's list of customers who owed him money ranging from £11,700 to £2,500

The court heard Parkinson, who had left the police the year before the conspiracy began, had moved to the village of Clawton, near Holsworthy.

Although his home was 36 miles from Crediton, he was selling the cocaine via a dealer in the town, prosecutors said.

Sentencing, Judge Stephen Climie said it was a 'very serious offence committed after serving for nearly 15 years as a police officer’.

He said Parkinson's financial problems led to him setting up the drugs line between Manchester and Devon.

Judge Climie told the defendant he could have been sentenced to as long as 10 years.

But he added that his guilty plea, significant health issues and the stress and anxiety caused by the delay in the case which 'extended to years rather than weeks or months' meant a reduced punishment was appropriate.

A Proceeds of Crime confiscation hearing will be held at a later date.

Parkinson's barrister Harry Laidlaw told the court he fully accepted his role, adding: ‘He has committed the crime and he has to do the time.’

Mr Laidlaw said the offending ‘was not conducted when he was a police officer and there is no suggestion he made use of information as a police officer to pursue this venture’.

The court heard that since his arrest Parkinson, had not been involved in any more criminality and there had been a significant delay since he entered his guilty plea in 2022.

Parkinson had his final meal with family and friends several times only to have his sentencing repeatedly delayed.

But Mr Laidlaw said: ‘It has been blindingly obvious what he was going to get when this day was going to come.’

The court was told Parkinson has ‘very serious physical issues’ resulting from being injured when serving in the police.

In 2018, he suffered a very serious injury in a quad bike accident which meant it was impossible for him to continue as a police officer.

His entire abdominal wall had to be reconstructed and Parkinson is due to undergo more surgery in the next few weeks to insert mesh to prevent his bowel moving.

Mr Laidlaw also revealed that Parkinson tested positive for Huntington's Disease, an incurable and terminal condition which breaks down nerve cells in the brain leading to cognitive decline.

Mr Laidlaw said Parkinson was a 'reliable, caring, decent' and of high integrity before he made 'very poor and wrong decisions'.

He added: ‘He has accepted what he has done. He has not shied away from his own actions’.

Crediton is famed for agriculture, cider-making - and as the birthplace of Saint Boniface, the patron saint of Germany and the Netherlands, in 675AD.

The historic market town also housed Devon's first Saxon cathedral.