Two drug dealers were found with £4.5m of cocaine and heroin between them after one of them tried to flee police during a chase in his transit van.
Gareth Hooton and Gerard Purcell both admitted a range of drug offences and were jailed for a total of 20 years at Liverpool Crown Court this afternoon.
Hooton, from Huyton, was caught in early April this year after police saw Purcell and another man drop a total of seven kilos of cocaine into his white transit van and they arrested him after a high speed chase through north Liverpool.
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Weeks later, police raided the south Liverpool home of Purcell, 65, and found around 30 kilos of heroin and ten kilos of cocaine.
Nardeen Nemat, prosecuting, said Purcell and Hooton were both seen during the original drugs transfer which caught police attention on April 6. After Hooton parked up his transit van near Mossley Hill Hospital, Purcell was seen stopping his car nearby before walking over and dropping a black bag containing five kilos of cocaine in the front seat.
Hooton then drove to Waterloo where another man, who so far has not been identified, gave him another two kilos of cocaine. On his way back to Liverpool police tried to stop Hooton but he sped off, sparking a high speed chase through the north of the city.
CCTV footage played in court showed his van going at around 80 miles per hour in a 40 zone, driving the wrong way up roads and going through red lights. He eventually fled the van and was arrested, with police finding a drugs hide underneath the passenger seat of the van.
On April 28, officers raided Purcell’s home in south Liverpool and ten kilos of cocaine were found. Pictures show the heroin broken up into half kilo bricks and the cocaine was found in two black holdalls. Ms Nemat told the court the heroin was estimated to have a street value of just over £3.1million and the cocaine had a street value of £800,000. The drugs found in Hooton's van were estimated to be worth £500,000.
Both men appeared before magistrates earlier this year. Hooton admitted dangerous driving and possession of cocaine with intent to supply while Purcell admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine and possession with intent to supply cocaine and heroin.
John Rowan, defending Hooton, said the 34 year old, who has no previous convictions for drug dealing, became involved in dealing after running up a drug debt and was deeply remorseful about his involvement. He said: “He has not spent a day since his arrest not regretting becoming involved in this activity.”
The court heard Purcell has a range of previous convictions, including a 2020 conviction at Glasgow High Court for being concerned in the supply of cocaine. On that occasion, prosecutors had suggested he was a “prominent member of an organised crime gang” but Michael O’Brien, defending him today, said that claim had never been substantiated and was not accepted.
Judge Denis Watson QC said both Hooton and Purcell were clearly trusted to handle large amounts of drugs and said that, while there was no evidence of people working beneath him, the sheer volume of drugs found in Purcell’s home suggested his role in the drug dealing chain was clearly an important one.
Judge Watson said: “Just because there is not one obviously beneath you does not mean you are not playing a leading role.” Hooton, of Pencombe Road, Huyton, was jailed for seven years and Purcell, of Ullet Road, Liverpool, was jailed for 13 years.
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