Drug dealers who forced vulnerable people to work for 16 hours jailed

Stephen Gedge and Billy Birdsall sold crack cocaine and heroin through vulnerable people who they threatened with beatings and were forced to work for up to 16 hours a day with little reward.

Birdsall, of Gamble Hill Place, Bramley, Leeds, was arrested by West Yorkshire Police on March 2022. Officers seized a large quantity of Class A drugs as well as a firearm, weapons, £3,000 cash and two mobile phones from the 28-year-old’s home.

One of the phones contained SIM cards which were connnected to a county lines drugs line which was being used in North Yorkshire.

Birdsall and Gedge, of Broad Lane, Bramley, Leeds, were both charged with conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine between 21 October 2021 and 20 July, 2022, and the pair admitted the offences at later hearings.

At Bradford Crown Court on May 2, Gedge, 34, was jailed for 12 years and nine months while Birdsall was jailed for seven years at Leeds Crown Court in February.

West Yorkshire Police said Gedge’s longer sentence showed his more senior role and said: “There was clear evidence of his control of both the North Yorkshire drugs line as well as the line being run in the Leeds area.”

Detective Inspector John Graham of West Yorkshire Police’s Programme Precision team in Leeds said: “Gedge and Birdsall were an absolute menace to the community, particularly in the Armley and Bramley areas of Leeds.

“They preyed on vulnerable people, taking advantage of them and getting them to do their dirty work. I’m pleased that they have been removed from the streets for a considerable amount of time.

“This investigation required close partnership working with North Yorkshire Police and other agencies in order to bring Gedge and Birdsall to justice.”