A look inside the brutal Lewis drug gang as new documentary shows British town invaded by machete-wielding dealers after gruesome teenage murder
WHEN Norwich came under siege by machete-wielding drug gangs, police launched a special operation to break up a heroin and crack-dealing 'county line'.
Now a gripping new documentary reveals how detectives rounded up members of the 'Lewis line' who supplied the fatalities drugs about Norfolk's most important city day and night.
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In just seven months they transported 4.3kg of Class A drugs, with an estimated street value of around £300,000.
The Channel 5 special, tonight, goes behind the scenes with cops trying to uncover the identities of the criminals at the heart of the drug ring.
During Operation Hobble, they chased three suspected dealers who jumped out of a flat after police smashed down the door.
In the flat of suspected leader, Liam Bolt, they found an 18-inch machete, while dealers threw £10 and £20 notes out the window of another tower block in a failed attempt to cover their tracks.
At the end of the operation in November, 11 suspects received prison sentences for their part in the drug operation.
Bolt, who was just 19 years old at the time of his arrest, was jailed for five years and seven months – the longest sentence handed down to anyone from the gang.
His apparent right-hand man Jamie Proctor, 20, showed his arrogance and disrespect for the law as he was questioned by officers.
He snarled “scally b****” and “s*** your mom” at detectives in the interview room.
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Detective Inspector Tim Lamb said: “There have been a number of shocking fights and attacks, they are terrifying communities. There was beating, stabbing and mutilation.”
The extent of the problem facing Norwich was exposed in January 2022 when the 18-year-old dealer Joe Dix died after being stabbed seven times by a drug gang.
Last year the number of crimes involving violence with injury, robbery, possession of weapons and knife crime increased went to Norfolk.
The latest figures show a shocking increase of 23.3 percent knife crime and an 18.6 percent increase in weapons crimes.
The documentary shows CCTV footage of a man armed with a huge knife rampaging through a pub.
He was repelled by four men, who defended themselves with pool cues, a chair and a beer bottle.
There have been shocking fights and attacks, they are terrifying communities. People have beaten, stabbed and mutilated each other
Detective Tim Lamb
Other clips show a masked man with a machete running down a street in central Norwich in broad daylight, one with a zombie knife stalking a parking lot and a huge fight on the forecourt of a gas station.
Norfolk Police closed 74 lines bringing Class A drugs into the county between April 2019 and April 2023.
The first episode of Channel 5's Police: Suspect No 1 focuses on Operation Hobble's battle to identify who was in charge of a phone used to sell drugs across Norwich.
Between December 2021 and June 2022, more than 67,000 calls and 12,000 text messages were linked to the Lewis line.
Customers were told it was “the best of both all day and night”.
Money 'thrown out of window'
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It was traced to Burleigh Tower on Munnings Road in the city and an armed raid was carried out.
Officers discovered a combat knife, a kitchen knife, drugs and large amounts of cash thrown out the window.
Another door was smashed at a flat in Norwich, with the loud bang giving the three residents enough time to jump out of the window and overcome the police officer blocking their exit.
However, the trio were all captured during a dramatic chase through adjacent streets.
But officers still had to find the ringleader of the operation.
It required painstaking detective work, visiting places where the phone had been upgraded and checking the CCTV footage.
The man spotted on one of the cameras was Bolt, who was already in the police database.
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Imprisoned members of the 'Lewis Line' drug gang
EIGHT people were convicted of conspiring to supply Class A drugs as part of the County Line dealing gang. They were:
- Liam Bolt, 20, of Homelea Crescent, Lingwood, was jailed for five years and seven months
- Jamie Proctor, 20, of Maidstone Road, Norwich, was jailed for three years and nine months
- Tyler Murphy, 22, of Earlham Green Lane, Norwich, was jailed for three years and nine months
- Edward Quigley, 23, of Petunia Court, Wymondham, sentenced to three years and four months
- Calvin Garwe, 23, of The Ridings, Poringland, sentenced to two years and 146 days
- Lee Cook, 42, of Wilks Farm Drive, Sprowston, was jailed for two years and three months
- George Doyle, 22 and of King Street, Norwich, sentenced to one year and ten months in prison, suspended for 18 months
- Scott Bodily, 43 and of Snowdrop Street, Wymondham, sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for 18 months.
Two people were jailed over concerns about the supply of class A drugs. They were:
- Nigel Bestford, 44, of Munnings Road, Norwich, sentenced to two years and four months in prison
- Chloe Levy, 33, of Munnings Road, Norwich, was jailed for two years and 20 weeks
Cocaine, scales, a safe, burner phones and a machete were found in his tower block.
However, that was not the end of the matter.
What the TV program doesn't reveal is that after Operation Hobble captured Bolt and Proctor, the Lewis Line was taken over by two more men: 22-year-old Tyler Murphy, from Norwich, and 23-year-old Edward Quigley, from nearby . Wymondham.
They were also arrested by officers and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
Detective Inspector Craig Bidwell, who oversaw the investigation, said: “This was a complex and lengthy investigation into a significant group of individuals responsible for the distribution of class A drugs in Norwich.
“Class A drug trafficking fuels serious crime, destroys the lives of everyone involved and has a significant impact on our communities.”
Teen stabbed
The damage County Lines gangs do to families is demonstrated by the tragedy of Joe Dix, whose parents told how the teenager was lured into drug dealing after being persuaded to take some money from a park.
Joe was then mugged and the gang told him he owed them something so he had to start dealing.
Mother Emma Dix said: “They were going to take the money from him, take the drugs from him and it was going to be set up by whoever gave him the drugs… so he was in debt and had to work harder to pay off the debt. . It was just a vicious circle.”
In January 2022, Joe went to help an associate at a crack den in the city's Mile Cross area.
There he was chased by Benjamin Gil, 19, Cameron Palmer, 19, and Hans Beeharry, 20, and stabbed to death.
The three killers were given life sentences last October.
Police: Suspect No. 1 is on Channel 5 tonight at 9pm.
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