A crystal meth dealer led police straight to his door after carelessly leaving behind £35,000 worth of the drug in a taxi in Manchester.
Sean O'Neill, 29, also accidentally left ketamine and cannabis in the cab which he had used to fetch cardboard boxes, believed to contain bottles of another illegal drug, GBL.
He had booked a taxi which dropped him off at the Lumiere Building in central Manchester with the boxes of GBL, which sells for around £100 a litre.
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Earlier that day, on December 18 last year, the dad went to a storage facility in Salford where was handed a red TK Maxx bag, which he put in the rear of the taxi, Liverpool Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor David Watson told the court he was driven to the Lumiere Building but left the vehicle with the bag still inside. He later realised his mistake and rang the cab firm who told him he could collect the belongings.
Police waited for him to arrive but he sent another cab to collect them though the driver, who O’Neill used to deliver drugs and cash, was not allowed to do so.
The drugs he left behind in the red bag and green sandwich bag involved 181 grams of methylamphetamine, known as crystal meth, 261 grams of ketamine worth £3,680 and 19 grams of cannabis. A set of scales was also found with traces of those drugs.
Police identified O'Neill as the taxi passenger as he had used his mobile number to book the mini cab. He was not arrested for a considerable time, and though he knew he was wanted, he continued to deal drugs, the court heard.
His mobile phone was never recovered but in messages from an acquaintance’s phone he referred to working for "Carl" and living at his penthouse in the Lumiere building, said Mr Watson.
He said he had to remain working for him in exchange for a safe place to stay and 'with a degree of bravado' claimed he was a valuable member of the team. He also spoke of going into the drugs business himself and making £15,000 a week and negotiating with Albanians in Manchester.
In a text with a customer O’Neill said he was going to London with £25,000 worth of drugs and the next day said he would be making a trip to the capital 'with enough drugs to get three life sentences if I’m caught.'
Mr Watson said that the majority of messages, which also included mention of having £17,500 cash and obtaining £15,000 worth of stock, referred to methylamphetamine.
In a message advertising the drug in February this year he said, ‘"F…in unbelievable. Big shards big hit. Big smiles on faces."
He boasted about the quality of the drug and its place of origin, eg Hong Kong and messages suggested he himself was a user and that he could supply various types of drugs. The court heard that in a TikTok message he spoke about “Malaysian champagne crystal meth”.
Messages from the phone of the taxi driver he sent to the police station to collect his mislaid drugs showed he used him to take GBL to London and other errands including collecting cash from locations in the North West including depositing £2,000 in O’Neill’s bank account. He told him he typically made £2,000 a day from drug dealing.
O'Neill was eventually arrested on June 21 near a gym in Wirral, after falling asleep in a taxi under the influence of drugs. A holdall with him contained seven bags of cannabis and 11 bags of crystal meth.
Paul Becker, defending, said O’Neill, who has mental health problems, had never been in prison before and has been in custody since his arrest. He is now off drugs and is a mentor to other prisoners with similar problems to his own.
"He has two young sons and wants to come out and be a good father to them. He had got involved for various reasons including debt, bravado and making money," said Mr Becker.
O’Neill, of Enfield Road, Cheshire, pleaded guilty to eight offences involving possessing methylamphetamine, ketamine and cannabis with intent to supply and conspiring to supply those drugs and also GBL between December last year and June 21.
The court heard that crystal meth - which featured in the hit TV series 'Breaking Bad' is a 'rare drug' in the UK.
Jailing the dad-of-two for eight and a half years, Judge Neil Flewitt, KC said that it was not a drug regularly found in police seizures and was not commonly found in Greater Manchester but said it was linked to the gay night time economy.
The drug is a central nervous system stimulant with a high risk of addiction and similar to cocaine but with with a longer and more intense effect. Judge Neil Flewitt, KC, described it as 'almost cocaine plus.'
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