‘He just went down the wrong path’ – How three lads ended up running a drug gang on Wellingborough’s Hemingwell estate

For anyone who sits regularly in the court rooms of Northamptonshire, it’s a familiar tale.

Lost in a system that encourages generation after generation of families to step so easily into the world of drug dealing.

And as three young men were sentenced for yet another conspiracy to peddle Class-As, each of their barristers explained just how they ended up as some of the main players in the Hemingwell estate’s crack and heroin supply.

Each told a similar story of early trauma in their client’s lives and a lack of options once they’d left the education system that had meant their membership of the gang had, in the end, become almost inevitable.

All three were jailed on Friday for their part in the operation that saw drugs brought from London to Wellingborough to feed the addictions of people living in one of the county’s most deprived areas.

Tyrone Maitland-Flute

Gang leader, Tyrone-Maitland Flute was just 18 when he rose to the top of the tree, controlling the movements of at least four grown men and eight teenagers who were flooding the estate with some of the most addictive drugs on offer.

He is not unknown to our reporters. Aged just 16 he was part of a vicious attack in Wellingborough and was dealt with in court for GBH. The victim was punched, kicked, stamped on and stabbed. In that year, while living in Irchester, he also assaulted a police officer after he was caught in possession of cannabis.

Maitland-Flute was also dealt with by a judge in 2023 after biting a police officer who tried to arrest him for drug dealing.

He committed that offence while he knew he was under suspicion of the much more serious charge of being part of a major conspiracy to run a drug gang on the Hemingwell, after having been first arrested in 2022.

This newspaper had run appeals when Maitland-Flute, now 21, had been missing on several occasions as a young teen.

Within two years of our first missing appeal, he was leading a gang of men that included two who were more than double his age. It’s normal in hearings like this to hear in mitigation about the emotional immaturity of the defendants involved, but His Honour Judge Herbert KC remarked several times that Maitland-Flute had a ‘criminal maturity beyond his age’.

Northampton Crown Court heard at his sentencing on Thursday (June 26) that, at primary school, he was a good student with a happy home life.

Mitigating, Dréa Becker said that things had taken a turn for the worse when Maitland-Flute’s father died when he was just 7.

"It affected him significantly,” she said.

“His mother wasn’t home so much,” said Ms Becker.

"She was trying to hold the family together and working two or three jobs.”

Maitland-Flute made it clear to the court his mother was in no way to blame for his downfall.

“After his father’s death he withdrew from friends and family and at school,” said Ms Becker.

He was diagnosed with a learning disability but there was a struggle to get him enough help, and he was expelled age 14 and never finished his education.

“He wishes he could go back and start over and achieve the best results possible,” said Ms Becker.

"His family are still very supportive of him. He just went down the wrong path. He says it was incredibly stupid behaviour.”

While running five separate drug lines, Maitland-Flute used pictures of piles of money and other youngsters wearing designer gear to lure in other children to his plot.

"He describes prison as being endless. Time moves slowly for him. He repeatedly says he’s been very stupid and he’s trying to reflect on what he’s done.”

“He’s still only 21 and he can’t imagine being 25 or 30 and still living this type of life. He wants to be a completely different person by then. He wants to do his sentence, come home and lead a legitimate life.”

Alfie Kew

Kew was 22 at the time of the offending, and a good pal of Maitland-Flute. Together, the pair ran the successful drug enterprise.

But details of his tricky young life were revealed in court.

Kew, now 24, was taken into care as a small baby and remained in the system for his entire childhood.

Mitigating for him, Derek Johashen said: "He never had a good parental role model.

"His mother was someone who abused Class-A drugs and his whole relationship with his family was dogged by the fact he’s been in care.”

"That difficult upbringing means it’s difficult for him to perform in the way other people do.

"Drugs were part of his lifestyle.”

Aged 18 he was already hanging around with Maitland-Flute, and the pair were getting into trouble with the law together. His barrister said he was ‘exploited at a young age and groomed into drug dealing.’

After he was charged with conspiring to supply Class-A drugs he immediately moved away to Skegness and has since started a new life. He has a two-year-old boy, a stable partner, a gardening job, and has not committed any offences while awaiting trial.

In court, the references he submitted from friends and an employer were described as ‘remarkable’.

“He’s completely turned around his life. He had a son and it’s completely re-directed his focus.

"He thinks of nothing other than his son.”

Mr Johashen said that Kew ‘doesn’t want that for his son.’

He said that social services had initially had concerns about Kew becoming a dad because of his offending, but had now closed the case and said he’s a ‘good parent.’

He asked Judge Herbert to keep his sentence as short as he could.

"We want to present hope to this family unit, and hope to this young man,” he said.

Liam Stray

Sitting in the dock with a black eye, the result of a disagreement with his cellmate, Liam Stray was characterised as a drug runner for hire.

He’d become involved with the gang after offering his services for £160-a-day. He knew Maitland-Flute through his half brother who was also a runner for the gang.

Stray, 25, of York Road, Wellingborough, was said in court to have had a ‘difficult upbriging’. His father, Liam Stray Sr, has a history of running large county lines operations and is currently serving an 18-year prison sentence.

“Both parents abused Class-A drugs,” said his barrister James Smith-Wilds.

“He witnessed, in his younger years, both addiction and abuse that led to him being taken into care at the age of 12.

"He ceased school attendance at the age of 14 and had no real contact with his family apart from some half siblings and cousins."

The court was told Stray has a ‘poor offending history’.

"There must have been a degree of naivety,” said Mr Smith-Wilds.

"He had no proper education, no parental figure and the only example of a lifestyle has been a criminal one.”

Since being HMP Peterborough, Stray has not engaged with the prison and has had no visits. He also failed to attend most of his trial.

He still denies any involvement with Class-A drug dealing.

Maitland Flute was given ten years in prison, Kew was given seven years and nine months and Stray, three years and nine months. The court heard proceeds of crime act hearings were not necessary because none of the men are deemed to have any recoverable assets from their crimes.