Dealer who hid class A drugs in his shoe jailed

Michael Kavanagh appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday 14 November, where he was jailed for five years and seven months after pleading guilty to possession with intent to supply class A drugs.

During his hearing, the court was told that on Thursday 18 September, officers from Widnes Beat Management Team conducted a warrant at an address in the Graham Road area of the town.

Previous enquiries conducted by officers revealed that the address was linked to the sale of class A drugs, namely cocaine and ketamine, with one of the occupants of the address having been seen frequently leaving the property on a push bike to distribute the produce.

This bike rider would later be revealed as Kavanagh.

During the search of the address, officers located the 31-year-old asleep in one of the bedrooms alongside several items, including multiple rolls of cash notes and a box of cannabis vapes. Several expensive watches and a number of bank cards were also found.

PD Sana, who was promptly deployed to the scene to search the address with her handler, also successfully sniffed out a trainer that contained a hidden wrap of white powder on a shelf above Kavanagh’s bed.

All of these items, as well as his bike that was found in the kitchen, were subsequently seized and taken into custody, alongside Kavanagh.

When interviewed by officers, Kavanagh refused to answer any questions relating to the items found within his home or as to whether he was the owner of the bike thought to be linked to their enquiries.

Despite his refusal to provide any comment, officers were able to further link him to the distribution of class A drugs in the local area through text message data found on his mobile phone.

These messages, sent to various recipients, referred to the sale of “flake” (cocaine) as well as price listings for his products.

It was this overwhelming evidence that resulted in Kavanagh pleading guilty to the charge on his first appearance at court in October 2025.

Sergeant Pickering, of Widnes LPU’s Neighbourhood team, said:

“Whilst we did give Michael Kavanagh a rude awakening during the warrant at his address, we found a substantial amount of evidence within his bedroom that directly linked him to the sale of class A drugs.

“Kavanagh thought he was smart by attempting to conceal some of his product from us in one of his shoes, but he did not account for the deployment of our very own PD Sansa, whose unmatched detection skills proved him wrong.

“I welcome this sentence handed to Kavanagh. It means that we have not only removed an individual who appeared to be a key player in the local drug trade for a considerable length of time, but our streets will be just that little bit safer as the distribution of illicit substances in this area will have been considerably disrupted.”