Jury retire to consider verdicts with two Newcastle men on trial for £18K drugs and firearm conspiracy

Robert English and Mark McKeswick, of Throckley and Muswell Hill respectively, are being tried alongside two others.

The jury has retired to consider verdicts in the trial of four men, two of which are from Newcastle, who are alleged to be involved in an £18K drugs and firearm conspiracy. Robert English and Mark McKeswick, of Throckley and Muswell Hill respectively, are being tried alongside two others at Teesside Crown Court.

English, 41, and McKeswick, 49, alongside Nico Easton and Scott Highfield, both 31, are alleged to have arranged the sale of £18,000 of heroin and transported it down from Newcastle to Teesside, during the first Covid lockdown in 2020.

Businessman Robert English, the only man accused who chose to give evidence at the trial, wept as he told the jury that he had been in trouble and took drugs when he was younger, but decided to turn his life around after his father died when he was in prison. He went on to say that he could not help his mum up when she fell to her knees in grief at his father's funeral, because he was handcuffed and accompanied by prison guards.

English denies conspiracy to supply class A drugs; conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life; and the possession of criminal property, a charge which came about after the prosecution said that £3,000 in cash and two watches were found during a police search of his home.

Mark McKeswick's bank account showed several cash deposits, with the prosecution saying that they were "proceeds of crime", but his barrister told the jury that his client liked to gamble and that these deposits into his bank account aren't from drugs transactions, but from his winnings.

McKeswick denies conspiracy to supply class A drugs; conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life; being concerned in the production of heroin; and the possession of criminal property, relating to the prosecution's claim that he put cash deposits from drugs transactions into his bank account.

Scott Highfield, of Norton Road in Stockton and Nico Easton, of Lowfields Walk, Ingleby Barwick, deny conspiracy to supply heroin, with Easton also denying a further charge of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Judge Christopher Smith directed that "the defendants didn't feel they had an answer to the prosecution, that would stand up to cross-questioning." He then told the jury to appoint a foreman, saying: "the only verdicts I can accept are ones where all 12 of you agree."

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