Get the Echo newsletter - it has never been more important to stay informed Sign me up now Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Vulnerable addicts are being pressured to eat faeces for laughs by young Liverpool drug dealers who are themselves victims of exploitation by hardened gangsters.

Shocking stories have emerged from the violent underworld of county-lines dealing, where youths are groomed by hardened city criminals and often forced to sell drugs in smaller towns or rural areas, where there is less competition from rival gangs.

The children, as young as seven according to some reports, are often given cannabis without having to pay up front and quickly rack up large debts to older gangsters.

They are then told the debt can only be worked off by dealing in locations many miles from their home, where sometimes deadly clashes with other county lines gangs can occur.

While the dealers are often victims of Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE), troubling incidents also involve those in the grips of heroin or crack cocaine addiction.

(Image: PA)

Vulnerable drug addicts "terrored"

One county lines dealer from Liverpool told researchers how vulnerable drug addicts desperate for heroin or crack cocaine can be exploited into sexual favours or other humiliating acts.

He said: "I’ve been asked by a man before like and I’ve just terrored him and said 'nah lad I’m not gay lad f*** off, go and lash your boyfriend'

"I’ve done it with girls ‘n that, I’ve been bought. This one crackhead said 'I’ll give you a [sex act] for a bit yeah' and I’ve said 'nah f*** off, leg it,'or 'I’ll give ya two bits (drug wraps) yeah if you eat that ash tray', and he’s eaten it.

"Some crackheads are funny though. I made this crackhead eat s*** ‘n that for rocks (crack). I was, like, look I’ll pay ya three bits to do it and he picked s*** up with his hand and ate it."

According to government data, convictions of young people aged 10 to 17 for Class A drug production and possession with intent to supply have increased 77% between 2012 and 2016.

The study into the troubling phenomenon on Merseyside, published in the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, found: "Most young people in the Merseyside study owed something to a drug dealer.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

"Debt, they argued, represented a specific realm of risk for any drug dealer. It was a causal factor in violence, with some respondents describing episodes of drug-debt related kidnapping, sexual violence, and torture.

"But because dealers utilised debt as a form of coerced recruitment into the trade (i.e., those who had accrued small debts were asked to sell drugs to pay them off), it was also an essential part of what made working the County Lines appealing."

'You can't do anything or I'll cut your leg off"

A Merseyside Police detective told the study: "Organised criminals think, 'I know there’s an opportunity to deal drugs and I know there’s a drugs market, I don’t wanna go and live in Bournemouth, I wanna stay in Croxteth, but I want money so how am I gonna do that?

"You know what, I’m gonna get him to do it and pay them very little, or I’m gonna pay them nothing cause I’m gonna threaten them to do it and they’re gonna live down in Bournemouth in a drug dealer's house, or a drug user's house, and I’m gonna threaten them as well.

"I’m gonna use violence to say he’s coming to live in your house and you can’t do anything about it because if you do I’ll cut your leg off'.”

The officer also referenced the murder of Bootle teenager Michael Warham in 2017, who was stabbed to death by rival Speke dealer Declan Graves in a county lines related flare up 50 miles away in Shrewsbury.

He said: "We had a murder in Shrewsbury which was a Sefton nominal, 17 years of age, who got murdered by Speke nominals, so it was getting played out in a council estate in Shrewsbury.

"Two organised crime groups all fighting for the same patch, the reason why it’s happening in those county locations is because there isn’t a recognised criminal gang structure in there so organised crime groups come in and basically terrorise the local criminals, they’ve never before seen the level of violence.

"They’re scared stiff so they comply cause they just think woah, never seen anything like this."

Gangsters will "kick your head in"

But the study also exposed the "unequal relationships" between the young dealers themselves and the criminals who threaten them or entice them with the promises of rewards that often fail to materialise.

One dealer was forced to travel from Sefton to Cardiff with heroin secreted up his bottom on the promise of a "grand a week."

The study stated: "Not only did he not receive this money, but while there, he was arrested by an undercover police officer posing as a drug user."

The dealer told researchers: "The person who I was doing it for picked me and me mates up from Liverpool and we just drove there at night with like five ounces of heroin plugged.

"The person you do it for answers the phone and we were just going out to serve the smackheads."

He also described the consequences of running up large debts by accepting cannabis without paying up front, an arrangement he described as "strapping."

He said: "All in all I owe them [drug dealers] about 12 hundred quid I was just strapping it off them. They won’t case [hassle] you, they’ve got dough, but if it’s been ages and they see you they’ll give you a little slap, kick your head in."

The report says: "Regardless of the risk of violence, danger, and contact with the criminal justice system, many young people claimed that working County Lines was easy and highly lucrative.

"Participants in the Merseyside study questioned where else they would be able to make large amounts of money considering their age and lack of academic achievement."

The Sefton dealer told researchers: "What job are you gonna get paid £330 every two days, grand a week basically, more. It’s easy; you gotta train for 20 years when you can just become a crack dealer like that [clicks fingers]."

What can be done

A separate national report into county lines, shared by charity The Children's Society, found the number of children arrested for selling drugs outside their home area almost doubled between 2015-16 and 2017-18.

The report also stated: "There is evidence that primary school age children – as young as seven – are targeted," while the Merseyside specific study referred to children as young as 12.

Researchers called for closer collaboration between police forces to ensure intelligence is shared effectively and efforts to tackle the marginalisation and other factors that breed gang culture.

Researchers also suggested drug laws were doing "more harm than good" and called for alternative strategies, including possible decriminalisation, to tackle criminal markets.

The study also pointed to recent prosecutions under the Modern Slavery Act, suggesting different ways to tackle CCE.

Superintendent Andy O’Connor, head of Merseyside Police preventative policing team, recently told the ECHO: “Merseyside Police has recently introduced Serious and Organised Crime Community Prevent Coordinators.

Follow reporter Jonathan Humphries on social media Do you have a story or tip-off? You can get in touch, in complete confidence if necessary, below: Follow Jonathan, or drop him a direct message, on Twitter here and on Facebook here You can read more of his stories here Email him on jonathan.humphries@reachplc.com Keep up to date with the latest breaking news here Like the ECHO Facebook page and follow @livechonews on Twitter

"Their role is to work with partners to develop pathways away from serious and organised crime, so that young people vulnerable to criminal exploitation do not become involved.

"They work tirelessly with partners and communities in the neighbourhoods most impacted, providing opportunities for young people to prevent them becoming exploited by criminals.

“The Merseyside Youth Alliance, which encompasses organisations doing great work with young people, has also had significant funding to deliver programmes across Merseyside."

The study, titled Working County Lines: Child Criminal Exploitation and Illicit Drug Dealing in Glasgow and Merseyside, was conducted by Grace Robinson, from the Department of Law and Criminology in Edge Hill University, alongside Robert McLean from the University of West Scotland, and James Densley from the Metropolitan State University.