Six semi-professional footballers who sold cocaine with an estimated street value of up to £260m have been jailed for a total of more than 103 years.

Police have said the “highly organised” gang, who sold the Class A drug on an “industrial scale”, was brought down like a “house of cards” following the arrest of one its members.

Luke Skeete had been pulled over by police while driving a white panel van in October 2022 – and a search of the vehicle uncovered 8kg of cocaine in the back.

The 36-year-old was arrested and a further 123kg of cocaine and 224kg of ketamine was recovered from storage units in west London that he had control of.

Skeete’s phone was also seized and sent for specialist interrogation – with officers discovering a secure messaging platform that was used by others.

The Metropolitan Police said the group chats “demonstrated and evidenced a sophisticated, professional business model” that the group had to supply cocaine throughout the UK.

The force added that each associate had used a different label on the messaging platform to conceal their identity and evade detectives.

“Painstaking work” meant the gang members were eventually identified by officers.

The other five members were:

• Former Enfield Town defender Adam Pepara, 35
• Former Chesham United forward Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick, 29
• Former Harrow Borough FC player Andrew Harewood, 34
• Former Margate FC striker Melchi Emanuel-Williamson, 29
• Former FK Senica player Jamarl Joseph, 28

Detectives examined CCTV footage that showed the gang members coming and going from one of the west London storage units with drugs concealed in holdalls and boxes.

Meanwhile, a video recovered from a car involved in a deal showed Skeete parking up in his white van and passing over a holdall of drugs.

Officers found the six men had conspired to supply in excess of 2.7 tonnes of “high-grade cocaine” with an estimated street value of between £208m and £260m between April and October 2022.

Specialist crime officers carried out arrest warrants at addresses linked to the group in London and Birmingham on 29 September 2023.

All of the men were arrested, charged and remanded in custody.

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The group were sentenced to a total of 103 years and five months in prison at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday 17 May.

They had all earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply controlled Class A drugs (cocaine) and conspiracy to supply controlled Class B drugs (ketamine).

Skeete had been jailed for 15 years at the same court in July 2023 after pleading guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply class A drugs (cocaine), possession with intent to supply class B drugs (ketamine), supplying cocaine, and driving while disqualified.

PC Perry, from the Met Police’s Specialist Crime North, said: “The operation we’ve dismantled here is not some minor undertaking, involving a group of chancers – this is a highly-organised criminal group who were supplying drugs on an industrial scale throughout the UK.”

Detective Constable Janes, from Specialist Crime North, said: “With Skeete’s arrest we brought this house of cards down.

“After he was detained we secured valuable evidence on his mobile phone, helping us launch another investigation that led to us identifying his conspirators.”

Eamonn Holmes addressed his split from Ruth Langsford as he opened his Tuesday morning show on GB News.

The pair announced on Saturday that they were divorcing after 14 years of marriage.

Holmes spoke about the news briefly to thank people for their support.

He said: “Just before we move on I would just like to thank people for your support for Ruth and I over the last few days as to the news of our separation.

“Your support for both of us is very much appreciated.”

Earlier in the show, he had referenced having an “emotional” weekend watching the FA Cup final between Manchester United and Man City.

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Holmes and Langsford presented ITV daytime chat show This Morning together for 15 years before quitting the show in 2021.

The 64-year-olds tied the knot in 2010, having started dating in 1997.

After leaving This Morning, Holmes joined GB News where he presents the channel’s breakfast show and Langsford is a regular on ITV’s Loose Women.

Together they also presented Channel 5 programmes including How The Other Half Lives and Do The Right Thing With Eamonn And Ruth, and made numerous appearances on Channel 4’s Celebrity Gogglebox.

Holmes is also a former Sky News presenter.

NHS waiting lists in Scotland have increased, with the number of inpatients waiting more than a year for treatment up by a quarter.

Statistics released by Public Health Scotland on the number of people waiting for outpatient, inpatient or day case treatment – or one of the eight key diagnostic tests – show the figure increased to 840,300 in the quarter up to the end of March.

This is an increase from 824,725 at the end of 2023 – a rise of 1.8%.

Of those, 534,178 were waiting for outpatient treatment – up by 10% from the same point last year and more than double the size of the list before the pandemic.

For inpatient treatment, 156,108 were waiting – a slight decrease from the previous quarter, but up 5.8% from last year and more than double the average waiting times in 2019.

In July 2022, former health secretary Humza Yousaf laid out plans to “eradicate” these delays – with a goal that no one would have to wait more than a year for treatment by September 2024.

But Public Health Scotland says these targets “have yet to be achieved” – as 37,761 patients have now been waiting more than 12 months, a year-on-year rise of 24.2%.

More than 7,000 are still waiting after two years, and 1,369 have been on the list for more than three years.

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Scottish Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said the backlog was “out of control”.

The Scottish government said it was “determined to ensure people receive the treatment they need as soon as possible”.

A spokesperson said an investment of £30m is being “targeted” at a series of national and local plans to “reduce the national backlogs that built up throughout the pandemic”.

The spokesperson added: “We are working with NHS boards to reduce long waits, including the delivery of the commitments in our £1bn NHS recovery plan to support an increase in inpatient, day case, and outpatient activity, and the creation of our national treatment centres (NTCs) programme – which is the single biggest increase in planned care capacity ever created in NHS Scotland.”

Two national treatment centres opened last year in Fife and the Highlands, with two further centres “opening soon” in Forth Valley and at the Golden Jubilee in West Dunbartonshire.

The Scottish government added: “We know there are still unacceptable waits in some specialities, but we are making progress.

“Despite the exceptionally challenging winter period, the level of activity for inpatient and day case patients was at its highest since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the latest quarter; the ninth increase in a row.

“The number of new outpatient attendances (completed waits) was also at its highest since the beginning of the pandemic, with 324,553 patients seen.”