Eleventh man sentenced for part in multi-million pound cocaine operation in West Midlands
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An eleventh man has been jailed for his part in a multi-million pound conspiracy to supply cocaine in the West Midlands.
Steven Woolridge became the latest defendant to be jailed as part of a ROCWM investigation.
Woolridge, 41, played a leading role in the operation, which saw him and his co-defendants work to supply the drug.
His role in the group was not hands-on drug dealing, he instead orchestrated the supply of the drugs and collection of debts by the group.
Woolridge, whose aliases included “Mr Wolf” and “Big Wolf” was identified by officers during the investigation as a conduit between drug dealers in the UK and organisations based overseas.
Now, Woolridge, of Lyndale Road, Coventry, has been jailed for 14 years and eight months following a hearing on 12 June at Birmingham Crown Court.
This means the 11 men convicted in connection with the case have been jailed for a combined total of more than 100 years.
Last year, we announced the conviction of four members of the group.
Mark Cheadle, Paul Patterson, Martin Brown and James Piotrowski were jailed for between six and 15 years in August last year.
The gang used vans to transport hundreds of kilos of cocaine from London and Bedfordshire up to the West Midlands.
Blocks of cocaine were found stamped with the Latin phrase “alea iacta est”, meaning “the die is cast”.
Two more men were jailed for their parts in the operation, while earlier this year, four more men were jailed for between eight and nine years.
Steven Dawkins, Navis Choudhury, Joe Whyley and Kane Brown were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court in January 2025.