Gang jailed for selling drugs ‘linked to over 125 deaths’ on the dark web

Three men who used the dark web to sell drugs ‘linked to over 125 deaths’ in the UK have been jailed for a total of more than 40 years.

Jake Levene, 23, Lee Childs, 45, and Mandy Lowther, 22, set up a business titled ‘UKBargins’ importing and exporting fentanyl and one of its analogues, carfentanyl.

They feared to have left behind an ‘unsolvable’ death toll as they raked in £163,474 in just five months. Jake Levene, 23, and Mandy Lowther, 22, have been jailed for 16 years each, while Lee Childs, 45, was given a 10 years sentence.

The class A drug, which is prescribed for severe pain relief, can be fatal in doses as small as 0.002g, a court heard, and the gang harvested enough to kill millions while ranking in £8,000 a week.