Alleged members of a drugs gang will stand trial next year, accused of handling cocaine worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The gang is said to have supplied tens of kilos of the class A drug in Oxfordshire in 2020 and 2021.

Appearing before Oxford Crown Court on Friday, seven men and one woman pleaded not guilty to allegations of conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

Judge Michael Gledhill QC set the case down for trial. The hearing is expected to last between four and five weeks, with the trial starting on January 17 next year.

Richard Gray, 32, of Furrow Crescent, Curbridge, and Jamie Sheridan Smith, 32, of Bramling Cross, Longworth, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine between March 31, 2020, and June 4, 2020; and cocaine between September 1, 2020, to May 26, 2021.

Lewis James Court, 36, of Scott Close, Kidlington, denies conspiracy to supply cocaine and possession of a stun gun, a prohibited weapon.

Mohamed Saeed Ali, 49, of Chervil, Milton Keynes, William White, 35, of no fixed address, Patrick Gray, 43, of Radford Close, Oxford, Mohannad Mohammed Albein, 34, of St Quentin Close, Swindon, and Sophie Plowman, 27, of Mill Meadow, Witney, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine between September 1, 2020, and May 26 this year.

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