Northumberland crime writer raises awareness of county lines drug networks with new book

• Report by Katie Cole

Northumberland crime writer Marrisse Whittaker has based her second novel on the topic of county lines drug networks.

She hopes to raise awareness of the issue, in which urban dealers traffic drugs into rural areas often via exploited children.

Such networks are highly active in the North East.

During a county lines crackdown in October lasting just a week, Northumbria Police arrested 28 people and seized more than £800,000 worth of Class A drugs as part of a national campaign.

Northumbria Police county lines crackdown facts (October 11 to October 17):

Nationally, the campaign saw 1,468 arrests, £1.3m in cash seized as well as 289 weapons.

Marrisse's book is set in rural Northumberland.

She spent lockdown researching the topic and picking the brains of an undercover police officer - learning about the extent of county lines networks and the damage they do.

Yet her most remarkable discovery has been how little understood the issue is.

"Everyone thinks it's happening in back city areas where no body normal would go but that's not how it works with county lines and that is what makes it so terrifying," Marrisse continued.

"Most of the kids are attracted by social media. So, everyone thinks 'it won't happen to my kids. It's rough kids, not like my Johnny or my Sophie.

"The point is the children don't understand it as county lines.

"They think, 'oh I've got a new mate who's a bit older who's going to buy me the new trainers I wanted. I'm going to be somebody... if I join this group, they'll look after me', not realising that they're walking right in and putting their satchel down in the middle of a county lines drug gang."

Marrisse lives by the sea in rural Northumberland. Before becoming a novelist, she was a TV and film make-up artist and then a TV scriptwriter - working on CBBC’S Byker Grove, BBC’s Doctors and Channel 4 Hollyoaks.