Croydon boy used as 'foot soldier' in county lines drug plot

A teenager used as a "foot soldier" during a county lines drugs supply plot has been sentenced.

The 16-year-old was detained by officers after leaving the Carlisle flat of addict Peter Kenney on 22 May.

The boy admitted conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and was given a two-year youth rehabilitation order at Carlisle Crown Court.

He said he just "done as he was told" by criminals. Kenney, 48, was jailed for seven years in November.

The boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, also admitted possessing criminal property which consisted of £1,400 in cash found in his rucksack.

His barrister Timothy Ashmole told the court: "He is taking telephone calls in relation to deals and occasionally he would take to the street himself and deal."

Phone evidence showed the boy had travelled to Carlisle from his home in Croydon, south London, six days before he was arrested by police as he left Kenney's flat.

Judge Peter Davies also imposed a six-month night time curfew on the boy.

"Users of cocaine and heroin live wretched and miserable lives," he said.

"You obeyed orders and sold drugs - so prolonging their misery - for money that you may not have kept yourself but you were going to account to somebody else."

County lines is a term used for organised drug dealing networks - usually controlled from urban areas - which distribute drugs across a county using runners, who are often young and vulnerable.