Drugs boss who claims he wants to change his ways is 'haunted' by links to notorious Manchester crime family

A drugs boss who peddled narcotics across north Manchester is ‘haunted’ by his association with one of the city’s most notorious crime families, a court heard.

Jethro Hardy, 31, a nephew of Desmond and Damien Noonan, has been locked up after he was found to have been the leader of a gang which sold cocaine, heroin and cannabis on the streets. The outfit peddled class A drugs on the ‘ice’ drugs line, and sold cannabis on the ‘blue’ line.

Hardy’s lawyer said the dealer wants to ‘change his ways’ and is planning on seeking a ‘fresh start’ away from Manchester after being released from prison. Manchester Crown Court heard that police launched an investigation into the gang, which ultimately discovered that they were dealing in cocaine, heroin and cannabis from July 2022 until February last year.

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Officers carried out observations of drug deals during that period in Moston, Prestwich, Blackley and Failsworth, with snap bags of drugs being recovered. Prosecutors said that phone evidence demonstrated that the gang could have been responsible for the sale of up to 3.78 kilos of class A drugs, said to be worth up to £378,000.

The ‘ice’ and ‘blue’ lines sent out almost 15,000 text messages during the conspiracy, advertising drugs for sale. “The evidence suggests he is the head of the organisation,” prosecutor Bradley Mather said of Hardy. “He is organising buying and selling on a commercial scale.”

Defending, Wayne Jackson said Hardy had admitted his guilt ‘from the outset’. Mr Jackson said that Hardy’s ‘association with the Noonan family’ is ‘something that has haunted him’.

“He accepts that drugs are a blight on society