Police discover Keynsham drugs factory

POLICE discovered a massive drugs making factory in an industrial unit in Keynsham.

During the police raid they uncovered more drugs in a van at the site, a rifle, face masks, mixing bowls, respirators and gloves.

The factory had been set up by Phillip Pearce and his son Justin who are said to have made £1.5 million from pedalling cocaine in Bristol have had nearly a third of their ill-gotten gains confiscated.

The pair were jailed after convictions for being at the heart of an organised drugs conspiracy that brought misery to the city's streets for years, Bristol Crown Court heard.

Judge David Ticehurst heard that Phillip Pearce, 58, of Airport Road, Knowle, and Justin Pearce, 30, of Summerhill Road, St George, made £700,000 each from crime.

The judge ordered Phillip Pearce to hand over his available assets of £313,678.31, and Justin Pearce to hand over his available assets of £150,000.

Operation Marin police raids in May 2007 recovered 3.5kg of cocaine, three-quarters of a kilo of MDMA (ecstasy), industrial pill-making equipment, cutting agents, heat sealing devices and other drugs paraphernalia.

A dozen packages were discovered, which contained cocaine mixed with caffeine and an anaesthetic called lidocaine, with an estimated street value of £150,000-£200,000.

Also found was a Walther PPK – a gun famously favoured by James Bond – and three rounds of ammunition.

Large amounts of cocaine were also discovered at a house on The Quays, Cumberland Road and in East Dundry Road, Whitchurch.

Pearce's sophisticated gang had also set up the factory at an industrial unit in Keynsham.

Pearce was eventually locked up for a total of 20 years; his dad Philip was sentenced to 11 years; and Ben Sherwood, 27, of Bethel Road, St George, was sentenced to nine.

Pearce's brother, Jamie Pearce, 27, of Acer Village, Hengrove; Martyn Talbot, 27, of David's Road, Hengrove; James Worgan, 26, of West Town Park, Brislington; and Adam Kane, 26, of Evercreech Road, Whitchurch; were sentenced to three years apiece.

Craig Roberts, 25, of Minehead Road, Knowle, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years and Lee Muscat, 25, also of Minehead Road, was fined £1,350 for his involvement.

Dr Kirstie Cogram, the manager of Avon & Somerset financial investigation unit said