Nine men have been handed jail terms totalling over 100 years after their roles in a £53 million nationwide cocaine supply plot were laid bare following a drug seizure in the Lake District.
During the 15-month criminal enterprise, cocaine weighing in at more than 300kg was imported into UK ports, warehoused and then distributed to towns and cities across England, Wales and Scotland by organised crime group members.
But the conspiracy was blown apart and culprits rounded up after 1kg of cocaine was seized last February in Bowness-on-Windermere where stashes had been stored in a lock-up by Cumbrian regional retailer Reece Barnes, 31.
Police made arrests and seized phones which allowed them to amass damning evidence as part of a probe codenamed Operation Matrix.
This revealed the true scale of a plot described as truly massive. Prosecutor Tim Evans told Carlisle Crown Court: “This is Amazon-style drug-dealing with that level of organisation and commerciality about it.”
It is Cumbria’s biggest ever drugs supply probe and one of the UK’s largest.
WhatsApp messages laid bare the contact between leading OCG lights and their foreign cartel contacts in as cocaine was smuggled into the UK from abroad.
Middle men acted as City-style brokers to facilitate domestic supply of the drug, which was then driven in huge quantities around the country by trusted couriers, bound for street users.
Nine men were sentenced today to jail terms ranging from six years to 20 years for conspiring to supply cocaine between March 2022, and May last year.
All appeared in court remotely over video links from four separate prisons as their punishments were handed down.
Mitigation had been offered by barristers representing the men, many of them fathers who were described as being remorseful for the impact of their illegal activity and incarceration will have on loved ones.
Andrew Stephens, 41, of East Field Drive, Golborne, near Wigan, was jailed for 20 years. He arranged the importation of vast quantities of cocaine into the UK.
Stephen Stockall, 63, of Well Lane, Weaverham, Northwich, was jailed for 12 years. He supplied cocaine to Barnes and had a previous heroin smuggling conviction.
Daryll Preston, 36, of Hampson Street, Atherton; and Scott Owen, 33, of Salisbury Way, Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, teamed up to act as brokers, connecting suppliers and wholesale buyer Barnes. They were jailed for 11-and-a-half and 14-and-a-half years respectively.
Barnes, 31, of Elim Grove, Bowness-on-Windermere, was jailed for 12 years. Driver and aspiring manager Thomas Whittaker, 45, of Brierfield, Digmoor, Skelmersdale, was also jailed for 12 years.
There were three other highly trusted couriers. Michael Evans, 36, also of Skelmersdale, was jailed for six years; Cain Turner, 32, from Greater Manchester but of no fixed address, for eight years eight months; and Anthony Warhurst, 58, of Knowsley Street, Leigh, for nine years eight months.
Judge Nicholas Barker said the men had been involved in serious drug-related activity.
“It is the daily diet of these courts to deal with the outcome of drug dealing and drug use,” said Judge Barker. “It is the addiction which ruins lives, destroys relationships, even causes death. It is that supply of drugs which drives criminal activity through thefts, robbery, burglary; and often, lying in the background, violence and disorder.
“That is why drugs and particularly class A drugs are illegal and it is why dealing in them receives such significant sentences. That is why those who do so at a large scale can expect to receive very lengthy sentences.
“But of course this is no surprise to any of you. You all knew this when you set out in your drug dealing and supply activities. You took that risk for the rewards of profit without a care for the illegality of what you were doing and the misery which would occasion through the supply.”
A 10th man — Simon Buller, 45, of Freshfield Avenue, Atherton, near Bolton — was not present in court this week but will receive his punishment next month after he admitted the same offence.
Applications for serious crime prevention orders and to claw back cash under Proceeds of Crime Act legislation will be made in due course.
