A PAIR of neighbours have been jailed for setting up a drug dealing network that brought huge amounts of cannabis and cocaine to Cornwall.

Matthew Topham used his home in Camelford as the base for a gang which sourced drugs from Spain and London and transported them to Devon and Cornwall.

He recruited his neighbour Jack Cullip to help them and the two men extended their supply network to the rest of the county, gradually increasing sales over 14 months.. 

They made large amounts of money from selling cannabis and cocaine and police traced almost £200,000 passing through Topham’s bank account in the time he was dealing. He paid more than £5,000 of it to Cullip.

Topham obtained his drugs from Philip Fallows, who ran the operation alongside Hertfordshire based businessman Jamie Chapman. Both men were jobbing builders who used their legitimate businesses as cover for drug dealing.

They trafficked at least 390 kilograms of cannabis and 18.8 kilograms of cocaine into the South West. Chapman’s role was to buy from contacts in London and Spain while Fallows ran the distribution network in Sidmouth, Exmouth, Ottery St Mary, Exeter and Cornwall.. 

Chapman used his 67-year-old father Paul, who lived just outside Sidmouth, as the main courier, making 47 weekly trips to Cheshunt in Hertfordshire to pick up seven kilos of cannabis per journey while delivering vast amounts of cash to pay for it.

Fallows’s older brother George and a friend ran distribution hubs in Ottery St Mary and supplied Keene with the drugs he sold to fellow users in Crediton. He only dealt in cannabis and never got involved with cocaine.

The conspiracy lasted for 14 months before police broke it up, first by arresting Paul Chapman as he arrived home with a car full of cannabis in May 2022 and then through simultaneous raids on Fallows, Topham and many of the others in late August 2024.

Jamie Chapman and Philip Fallows were buying the drugs in bulk from mysterious contacts in London and Spain known only as Harry and Big Jim. They started by just selling cannabis but diversifying into cocaine in 2022.

They set up their own channel named South Coast on the encrypted social media app Signal and adjusted the settings to ensure that most of their messages were deleted automatically.

The amounts of drugs and cash involved were huge. The estimated street value of the cannabis alone was almost £4-million.

Police seized £11,000 cash and  three kilos of cannabis from Philip Fallows’ properties in Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton and more at his brother’s and Topham’s homes.

The amount of cash deposited into the gang’s bank accounts was more than £350,000 but much larger sums were sent back to pay for previous supplies and fund expansion and new purchases.

Some of the cannabis seized had been pressed into rectangular ingots and stamped with a version of the Emporio Armani logo.

The gang has received jail terms totalling 27 years and 11 months from Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court, where they all admitted conspiracy or drugs offences.

Topham was jailed for four years and 10 months and Cullip for two years and nine months.

The judge told them: “Topham was working the Cornwall end of the operation alongside Cullip, obtaining drugs from Philip Fallows in Sidmouth. The operation in Cornwall clearly generated a lot of money, selling directly to users and to other suppliers.”

Mr Joss Ticehurst, prosecuting, said Chapman sourced the drugs in London and Spain and his father made 47 trips to deliver them to Sidmouth, from where they were passed on to several sub dealers in East Devon and Topham in Cornwall.

The scheme started with cannabis in June 2021 but went on to supply cocaine. All the 12 people involved had different roles, with Bayliss being the least, having acted driver for one trip to and from London.

Defence barristers who mitigated for all the defendants sentenced so far said they got involved because of their own drug use or financial hardship.

The full list of those who have admitted supplying class A or B drugs and their sentences include:

Philip Fallows, aged 36, of Cotmaton Road, Sidmouth. Seven years, eight months

Jamie Chapman, aged 33, of Old North Road, Hertfordshire, six years, ten months.

Matthew Harris, aged 55, of Albion Street, Exmouth. 240 hours unpaid work

George Fallows, aged 40, of Mill Street, Ottery St Mary. To be sentenced later.

Damien Carnell, aged 37, of Manstone Avenue, Sidmouth. Two years seven months, 

Paul Chapman, aged 67, of South Lawn, Sidford. Three years, three months.

Gary Hedgeland, aged 31, of Sunny Hill, Ottery St Mary. A year and eight months suspended for two years with 210 hours unpaid work.

Jonathan Keene, aged 33, of Willow Walk, Crediton. 140 hours unpaid work.

Tia Pryor-Howard, aged 24, of Vaughan Road, Exeter. One year nine months suspended for two years, 180 hours unpaid work, 20 rehabilitation days.

Matthew Topham, aged 30, of Willowbank, Camelford. Four years ten months.

Jack Cullip, aged 24, of Willowbank, Camelford. Two years nine months

Scott Bayliss, aged 44, of Albion Street, Exmouth, 210 hours unpaid community work and 20 days of rehabilitation activities.

 Zoe Mardon, aged 47, of Waters Road, Salisbury, has admitted being concerned in the supply of cannabis. 70 hours unpaid work and ten rehabilitation activity days.