Southampton Drugs Empire dismantled as four people guilty of drugs and firearms offences

Two people have today (Friday 17 May) been found guilty of Class A drug supply offences in Southampton, with two others pleading guilty at earlier hearings, one of whom also pleaded guilty to firearm offences.

The verdicts come following a lengthy trial which began on Monday 18 March at Southampton Crown Court.

Max Craig Alexander, 34, of no fixed abode, was described in court as the orchestrator and facilitator of the supply of Class A drugs from Liverpool into Southampton across 2020 and 2021.

He was supported by Stuart Marcus Forrest, 24, of Lyburn Close in Southampton, and Steven and Suezanne Forrest, 56 and 48, of Cromer Road in Southampton.

The court heard how, as part of an ongoing investigation into the activity of the defendants, officers carried out a warrant at an address on Old Redbridge Road in January 2021. Six firearms, including three double barrel sawn-off shotguns and three revolvers, were located inside the house, as well as Class A drugs in the form of heroin and cocaine, to a street value of approximately a quarter of a million pounds.  

The investigation, which was run by Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary as Operation Boheme, coincided with Operation Venetic - an international operation targeting criminals using a mobile encryption service, commonly referred to as EncroChat, to evade detection.

Max Alexander had already pleaded guilty at earlier hearings for Operation Venetic charges including attempting to acquire a prohibited firearm, attempting to acquire ammunition without a firearm certificate, attempting to possess ammunition when prohibited, and to six counts of being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine. He further pleaded guilty to additional counts of conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin and conspiracy to transfer criminal property. He was found not guilty by the jury of conspiracy to possess a firearm without a firearm certificate and conspiracy to possess prohibited firearms. 

Steven Forrest and Suezanne Forrest were found guilty of conspiring to supply heroin and cocaine and conspiring to transfer criminal property.

Stuart Marcus Forrest had already previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin, conspiracy to possess a prohibited firearm, conspiracy to possess a firearm without a certificate, conspiracy to transfer criminal property and being concerned in the supply of cannabis.

Two other defendants - Kelly Ann Sinnett, 29, of Pasture Avenue in Wirral and Terry David Wells, 49, of Old Redbridge Road in Southampton, were found not guilty of the offences they were charged with; conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin, conspiracy to possess a prohibited firearm, conspiracy to possess a firearm without a firearm certificate and conspiracy to transfer criminal property.

Kelly Ann Sinnett was also found not guilty of failing to comply with a Section 49 RIPA notice to disclose the key to protected information in relation to a mobile phone.

All four defendants who have been found or pleaded guilty are due to be sentenced on October 4th and 7th.