EIGHT men have been sentenced to a total of 106 years in prison for drugs conspiracy offences.

The convictions follow an operation by Merseyside Police and National Crime Agency into the conspiracy to supply Class A drugs in 2016.

At the time, police seized 7kg of unadulterated heroin, 10,000 MDMA tables, more than 9kg of cocaine and 11,000 diazepam tablets.

The drugs recovered were given a street value of £1.4m alongside £20,000 cash.

This group and their co-conspirators were responsible for the supply of hundreds of kilos of Class A drugs, with values in excess of £9m between the end of January and the beginning of July 2016.

The men were sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday, May 25.

Peter Atherton, 43, of Mostyn Avenue, Heswall was sentenced to 18 years, nine months.

Leon Hinchcliffe, 34, of Grasmere Avenue, Noctorum was sentenced to 22 years, six months.

Christopher Thomas, 41, of Hornby Road was sentenced to 16 years and five years to run concurrent.

Michael Brady, 39, of Tern Way, Moreton was sentenced to 14 years.

Ian Rowley, 40, of Hornby Road was sentenced to 12 years, eight months.

Neil McWilliam, 39, of no fixed address was sentenced to four years.

Both Colin Chesters, 33, of Pasture Road, Moreton and Allan McNelis, 42, of Dickens Close, Prenton were sentenced to nine years.

Hinchliffe was arrested in December 2016 and Atherton was arrested on November 21, 2017 in Spain after being subject of a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) and he was brought back to the UK in December.

Detective sergeant Katherine Ashburner said: "Working alongside our partners with Europol and the NCA, we were able to bring Atherton back to the UK to face justice.

"We will be relentless in tracking down those who think they can run and hide in other countries.

“This was a long-running and complex investigation into large-scale drugs supply and these offenders, as with others involved in serious and organised crime, never gave a second thought to the effects of their involvement in the supply of Class A drugs.

"Their own ledgers revealed that they moved cocaine to the value of £9million – destined for UK streets, where these drugs cause harm and misery in communities.

"I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to anyone who has any information about drug supply and any serious organised crime to come forward and tell us.

"If you let us know, I can assure you we will take positive action and as we have done here, take those responsible for drug crime off the streets and help you to improve your community.”

Anyone with information on suspected drug supply is asked to call 101, speak to local officers or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.