TWO "peripheral" members of a gang which conspired to sell £88,000 worth of cocaine in Stoke-on-Trent have been sentenced.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard Anthony Cooke, aged 26, of Ennerdale Close, Burslem, and Mitchell Robinson, aged 18, of Cummings Street, Hartshill, were both minor players in the conspiracy to supply the class-A drug.

Gang leader, Damien Miller, aged 27, of Gill Bank Road, Kidsgrove, pictured right, has already started a seven-year jail sentence for orchestrating the crime, which took place on May 13 last year, after he was arrested in Longport.

Earlier this week, Steven Field, of Port Vale Street, Burslem, was jailed for three-and-a-half years after he admitted storing drugs at his former home in Wolstanton.

Yesterday, the court heard both defendants stored cocaine cutting agent Benzocaine, on behalf of the gang.

Prosecutor Robert Price said: "Cooke asserts that on one occasion he delivered a bag of Benzocaine to Field's (former) address."

In a statement read out by Mr Price, Cooke said: "I received this bag from a male I had seen in Middleport on May 12, 2008. He asked me to store it and deliver it to Field. I dare not name the male. If I did so I fear for my safety and the safety of my partner and child.

"I agreed to deliver the bag because I knew my friend Field was in trouble with a debt.

"When I saw Field he promised me a wrap of cocaine, which I never received."

Mr Price told the court Robinson first became involved in the plot in January 2008, after a chance meeting with Miller.

Robinson was offered £100 in return for storing Benzocaine. In a statement read out by Mr Price, Robinson said: "He gave me a black bin bag containing white powder. He asked me to store it until he needed it."

The Benzocaine was to be mixed with 1kg of cocaine, worth £22,000, to make 4kg of powder, with a street value of £88,000.

Cooke and Robinson both pleaded guilty to the charges of conspiracy to supply cocaine. Sophie Lomas, mitigating for Cooke, said: "He was not involved in transporting any cocaine. There was no financial gain."

Mitigating for Robinson, Guy Mathieson said: "He was very much on the fringe of this matter, being used by others because of his naivety."

Judge Robert Trevor-Jones sentenced Cooke to 21 months in prison and Robinson to 15 months in a young offenders' institution.