TWO members of an organised crime gang that ran an amphetamine factory, thought to be one of the largest ever found in the UK, have had their jail sentences increased.

The drugs lab, located near Redditch, was capable of producing 400 kilos of amphetamine per month, worth £2 million at wholesale and up to £10 million at street level.

Keith Davis, aged 62, of Chalfont St Giles, and Andrew Gurney, aged 51, of Quinton, were jailed for drugs offences in June this year.

Davis received a five-year and three months prison sentence and Gurney was jailed for six years and three months.

At a hearing on Wednesday, September 21, the Court of Appeal ruled that their previous sentences were unduly lenient and the Judge increased them to 10 years.

NCA Branch Commander Matt McMillan said: “Keith Davis and Andrew Gurney were key players in running one of the largest drugs laboratories ever found in the UK.

“They carefully planned this criminal enterprise, undergoing chemistry training to run the facility, which was capable of producing 400 kilos of amphetamine per month, worth £2 million at wholesale and up to £10 million at street level.

“The drugs they produced were distributed to dealers from the West Midlands to London and Kent, and will have fuelled violence, fear and exploitation in communities across the UK.

“This ruling emphasises the seriousness of their criminality, and the NCA continues to target those behind the highest risk and most complex criminal threats to the UK.”

Work started on the  lab in March 2020 and it began producing drugs in May of that year. The crime gang initially bought amphetamine pre-cursor chemical benzyl methyl ketone (BMK) but quickly realised it was more profitable to make it themselves.

NCA officers raided the site in Ullenhall Lane, Henley-in-Arden, on April 27 last year, with assistance from Warwickshire Police.