A GANG accused of flooding the streets of Ellesmere Port with cocaine appeared in court last week.

A total of 22 defendants stood in the dock at Chester Crown Court accused of conspiracy to supply the drug following a series of police raids in October 2011.

Six men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine in Ellesmere Port.

They were: Carl Sinclair Mattison, 37, of Swale Road, Ellesmere Port; Joseph Peter Lamb, 58, of Larchdale Grove, Liverpool; David Graham, 47, of Belle Vue Road, Oswestry; Eugene Patrick Clarke, 45, of Lodge Road, Widnes; David Ellison, 48, of Castlefields, Oswestry; and Andrew Knox, 40, of Camden Road, Ellesmere Port.

A total of 10 others pleaded not guilty to the crime: Paul Riley, 24, of Buxton Crescent, Rochdale; Leonard Wilfred Robert Jones, 31, of Luton Road, Ellesmere Port; Anthony Davies, 47, of Nicholas House, Oswestry; Susan Thomas, 33, of Oliver Lane, Great Sutton, Christopher Dodd, 26, of Harrison Street, Barrow-in-Furness; Kathryn Frames, 23, of Hurstead Road, Great Sutton; Carl Hartley, 30, of Smeaton Street, Barrow-in-Furness; Richard Parrott, 71, of Camden Road, Ellesmere Port; Peter Evans, 51, of Parc Y Dre, Ruthin, Clwyd; and Simon Le Beau, 38, of Orville House, Ruthin, Clwyd.

Paul Riley pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon, a police baton, on the M53 in Ellesmere Port last July 7.

Andrew Knox, and Neil Hall, 40, of Sarn Road, Holywell, North Wales, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce cannabis between November 11, 2010, and April 20, 2011.

Corey Davey, 20, of West Street, Chester, and Kurt Davey, 25, of Princes Road, Ellesmere Port, pleaded guilty to the same offence between April 14 and July 7, 2011.

Simon Howard, 43, of Woolton Court, Ellesmere Port; Lee Jones, 31, of Spunhill Avenue, Ellesmere Port; and Wayne Jenkins, 34, of Squire Street, Liverpool, were not asked to enter a plea.

The case for all defendants who pleaded not guilty and those who did not plead was adjourned until March 23.

A trial, expected to take four-five weeks, is scheduled to take place from the first week of October.

Karl Mattison, Simon Howard, Lee Jones, David Graham, Andrew Knox, Corey Davey and Kurt Davey were remanded in custody again, while the remaining 15 were released on bail.