FIVE people have been jailed for a total of 33 years for their part in a drugs ring operating across Dorset.

Robin Brasier, 68, and Tara Ruffell, 30, both from Bridport, were convicted of conspiring to supply heroin and cocaine and were sentences to nine years and six yeas respectively.

Christie Tierney, 31, and Robert Winterton, 30, both from Liverpool, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs. Thomas Burns, 31, also from Liverpool, pleaded guilty to money laundering.

Tierney was sentenced to nine and a half years, Winterton to six and a half years and Burns to two years. All were sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on Tuesday May 19.

The court heard heroin and crack cocaine was brought into Dorset through contacts in Liverpool.

Arrests were carried out last year under Operation Crusade which investigated a group of those suspected to be supplying controlled drugs across Dorset.

Detective Constable Steve Pryce, of Dorset Police’s Major Crime Investigation Team, said: “Drug dealing, drug use and associated crimes cause nothing but misery for our communities.

“These convictions send out a strong message that Dorset Police and the courts do not tolerate drug dealing in the county and the Force is committed to tackling organised crime."