A CONVICTED drug dealer who ran a 'cannabis empire' from his HMP Risley prison cell in Warrington has been jailed for a further two years and 10 months.

Lee Burgess, aged 26, ran the family drug operation despite being an inmate, using a mobile phone smuggled into the prison on Warrington Road. 

Burgess, already serving a sentence for supplying class A drugs, used the phone to contact brother Peter Burgess, aged 30, from Droylsden, and told him how to run the business.

The family firm were responsible for the production and distribution of cannabis in the Tameside area in Manchester.

They were sentenced today, Friday, at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester.

Sophie Burgess, the partner of Peter Burgess, was also involved in the supply of cannabis, and Brogan Dean, Lee Burgess' partner, would collect the profits on their behalf.

On 11 January 2013, officers  from Tameside Organised Crime Team swooped on Dean's home in Denton and found drugs paraphernalia along with £4,000 in cash in four bundles stashed in Dean's bedroom.

In the loft, a further £3,000 in bundles and a carrier bag stuffed with just shy of £30,000 in cash were seized.

Two months later, officers raided Peter Burgess' home and discovered the remains of a cannabis farm in the loft as well as several thousand pounds worth of high purity cocaine and cutting agents.

Lee Burgess pleaded guilty to supplying cannabis at an earlier hearing and was also convicted of acquiring criminal property following a trial.

Peter Burgess pleaded guilty to supply cannabis, possession of a Class A drug with intent to supply, production of cannabis and abstracting electricity at an earlier hearing.

He was also convicted of entering into a money laundering arrangement following a trial, and was jailed for five years and six months. 

Sophie Burgess, aged 26, from Droylsden, was given a six-month sentence suspended for two years and ordered to complete 120 hours unpaid work, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis, and allowing her property to be used to produce cannabis at an earlier hearing.

Dean, aged 21, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis, possession of cannabis and possessing criminal property at an earlier hearing.

She was given a 12 month sentence suspended for two years and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work

£35,925 has also been confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Det Con Joe Harrop, from the Tameside Organised Crime Team, said: "This was truly a family firm.

"These four individuals formed the backbone of an organised crime group responsible for the production and distribution of cannabis in the Tameside area.

"It is clear from the volume of cash we recovered it was a lucrative enterprise and it was almost certainly the lure of easy money that persuaded Burgess to continue to pull the strings despite being locked up for dealing drugs.

"Unlike the vast majority of people who work for a living, these four simply wanted to line their own pockets producing and peddling drugs and I am delighted this operation has been exposed and they have been punished for their criminal behaviour.

"It must be galling for people in our community to see drug dealers like this who can't be bothered to find honest work driving around in flash cars and enjoying the wealth criminality can bring so it's a victory for our communities as much as anyone else to see these people brought down a peg or two.