Child Criminal Exploitation: ‘County Lines’, Trafficking and Cuckooing
| DOI | 10.1177/1473225418810833 |
| Author | Nigel Stone |
| Published date | 01 December 2018 |
| Date | 01 December 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Legal Commentary |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1473225418810833
Youth Justice
2018, Vol. 18(3) 285 –293
© The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/1473225418810833
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Child Criminal Exploitation:
‘County Lines’, Trafficking
and Cuckooing
Nigel Stone
The recent conviction of a Birmingham drug dealer (M.) attracted wide media attention
because the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS, 2018a) had tagged it a ‘landmark’ case
because, in addition to being charged with four instances of conspiring to supply Class
A drugs (heroin and crack cocaine), M. faced five allegations of human trafficking, an
offence under the Modern Slavery Act (MSA) 2015 s.2,1 and was believed to be the first
offender to be convicted under this legislation where the trafficking had targeted chil-
dren.2 He pleaded guilty (at a very late stage) on all nine counts. Aged just 21 and part
of a larger supply ring M. had recruited at least three vulnerable teenagers who had been
reported missing from their homes, two boys aged 15 and a girl aged 14, using them to
sell drugs on his behalf in Lincoln, a county town some 100 miles from Birmingham,
operating from a small, cold and squalid flat also occupied by heroin-dependent intra-
venous users. Having transported them to that base by car or train he had controlled
them by cell phone instructions, ferrying in fresh supplies when required, until the
‘drawn, tired and hungry’ children were found at the flat by the police where they were
in possession of drugs, substantial sums of money and hunting knives. M. was estimated
to have been profiting £500 daily. With credit for his relative youth plus late plea, he
incurred a total sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment, combining 6 years for drug con-
spiracy with 8 years consecutive for the MSA offending. There was no evidence that he
had used force or duress to secure the youngsters’ participation or that they had gone to
Lincoln unwillingly or that they had received any payment for their role in the supply
line. Nevertheless, their disappearance from home for several weeks had caused their
families considerable distress and they had been exposed to obvious danger, criminal
attitudes, drug misuse and corruption.
Corresponding author:
Nigel Stone, School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, Elizabeth Fry Building, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK.
Email: n.stone@uea.ac.uk
810833YJJ0010.1177/1473225418810833Youth JusticeStone
legal-commentary2018
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