A key player in a major plot to flood Carlisle’s streets with heroin has been handed a prison sentence of eight years and four months.
At the city’s crown court today, Liverpool man Carl Watterson, now 37, became the seventh person of eight to be sentenced for being part of a criminal conspiracy which ran for 14 months — between March 2020, and May 2021.
It continued through Covid lockdowns, despite Watterson and two fellow Merseyside-based organised crime group members being repeatedly arrested and bailed with conditions not to enter Cumbria.
Heroin was transported to Carlisle, generally in one-ounce amounts to limit damage should police make an interception, the court heard.
Burner phones were used once it arrived to send text message flares advertising its availability for sale.
During the conspiracy, Watterson also took control of a vulnerable city addict’s home — known as cuckooing — where drugs were stored ahead of onward distribution.
“Mr Watterson had colonised that address,” said prosecutor Brendan Burke, who told how, on August 19 2020, Watterson was found in the occupant’s bed by police.
“The fact he was in her bed shows the relative power balance in that relationship. She was a derelict heroin addict. He had taken over her home and kicked her out of her own bed. She knew very well where the power balance lay.” That woman was left to sleep on her sofa.
Watterson was arrested for the fourth time at his Liverpool home, in Lincoln Street, Garston. Around 280g of heroin was recovered, along with products used to bulk heroin into larger qualities, and other drug paraphernalia.
Police painstakingly picked through traffic camera and mobile phone data as they brought eight defendants to court.
Based on the evidence collected, the prosecution suggested that 3.5kg of the drug could potentially have been supplied throughout the criminal enterprise. Watterson — and two fellow Liverpudlians — had been the prime movers.
Watterson was due to have been sentenced at the crown court last year, having admitted conspiracy to supply heroin. But he failed to attend court, prompting police to issue a public appeal to trace his whereabouts. He was arrested a fortnight ago.
Defence barrister Helen Chenery, mitigating, said Watterson’s daughter suffered from ill health and had been due to go into hospital. “He didn’t want to leave her,” said the lawyer.
While at large, lightly convicted Watterson had been working and living with his partner and child, keeping himself out of trouble.
Judge Michael Fanning imposed a prison term of eight years and four months.
“I am sentencing you for this conspiracy that actually ran for 14 months but which was intended to run ad nauseam — on and on and on,” the judge told Watterson. “It was calculated to generate income over an infinite period of time.”
Of Watterson taking over the Carlisle addict’s home, Judge Fanning observed: “You relegated her to the sofa. You had the comfort of her bed.”
- Jonathan Scott, 35, of Windfield Road, Liverpool, is still being sought by police, and is the one defendant still to be sentenced for his role in the conspiracy.
