Ex-police officer Gary Parkinson, 45, jailed for six years and four months for running county lines drug ring from Manchester to rural Devon The former Greater Manchester Police officer, who left the force due to injury, set up the operation trafficking cocaine to Crediton between November 2019 and January 2020. Over just seven weeks the ring supplied two kilograms of cocaine with a street value of £160,000. Parkinson funded the drugs while a co-conspirator made nine separate trips driving the cocaine from Hyde in Greater Manchester down to Devon, where it was sold by a local dealer. He was arrested with £7,000 in cash and a customer debt list showing amounts from £11,700 to £2,500. At Exeter Crown Court Judge Stephen Climie described it as a “very serious offence”, noting Parkinson’s nearly 15 years of police service. A Proceeds of Crime hearing is still to take place.