A drug dealer organised a sophisticated network of cocaine and cannabis distribution across the country under the guise of a dog-breeder, a court heard.
Jamie Walsh, 37, who fled to Spain after his arrest, had a network of drug runners across the UK on his payroll and was described as the kingpin of a conspiracy supplying large amounts of drugs between Liverpool and Cornwall, Cumbria, Scotland and elsewhere in the UK.
Walsh, from St Helens, referred to the sale and purchase of 'dogs' as a cover for his communications with his couriers and customers about drugs, the court heard. He was finally brought to justice almost five years since he was first arrested, due to delays with Covid lockdowns, the barristers' strikes and other defendants' cases.
He skipped bail in April, 2019, after his arrest, reports The Echo, and remained on the run until December, when he was detained in Spain, Liverpool Crown Court heard.
The court heard National Crime Agency (NCA) officers started targeting Walsh's organisation in July, 2017, as part of an investigation codenamed Operation Sultane. Stephen McNally, prosecuting, told the court on Wednesday that Walsh had been proven to have supplied 96kg of cannabis and 3.75kg of cocaine between July 2017 and his arrest in March 2018.
Detectives discovered that Walsh employed Matthew Lee, 34; Craig Garner, 45, and Claire Stevens, 45, to traffic drugs across the country via motorway and railway networks, although messages referred to multiple other couriers by nickname who have not been identified.
Mr McNally said: "During the conspiracy period Jamie Walsh used 14 different unregistered 'pay as you go' mobile numbers to communicate with co-conspirators. This regular changing of telephones demonstrates the extent of his attempts to remain difficult to identify and to frustrate attribution.
"On arrest, Jamie Walsh was in possession of three mobile devices: a 'smart phone', a Nokia and an encrypted Aquaris device - the Aquaris being the type of device characteristically used by higher level organised criminals making use of the EncroChat platform."
The operation to tackle Walsh took place before the EncroChat network was hacked by the French authorities in 2020, and detectives were unable to access any messages on his encrypted phone.
But Mr McNally described texts recovered from other phones. He told the court: "Jamie Walsh employed coded-language in his text communications which was again designed to conceal his actual enterprise. He referred to the sale and purchase of 'dogs' as a cover for his communications with his couriers and customers about drugs.
"When his address was searched there was no evidence to suggest that there had been any dog-breeding enterprise taking place there."
Walsh's illicit trafficking network did not stop even after Garner, of Sunnyside Road in Crosby, Liverpool, was arrested on the M6 motorway on October 15, 2017, heading for an address in Swindon. Police found 24.5kgs of cannabis resin in the boot of his car, worth around £60,000 at street level.
The court heard official 'release from custody' papers were later found at Walsh's address by police. Mr McNally told the court: "The prosecution note that it is not uncommon for couriers who 'lose' drugs to have to prove to those higher in the hierarchy that they have been seized by police."
After Garner's arrest Walsh replaced him with Stevens, of Lowerson Crescent in Norris Green, who continued to ferry cannabis around the country in her Audi, the court heard. However Stevens was also stopped on the M6 in December that year, on her way to Cornwall, with 4kg of cannabis in the boot worth around £21,000 wholesale value.
Still Walsh continued his illicit business, and was in regular contact with Lee, then of Church Street in St Austell, Cornwall. The court heard Lee acted as an 'intermediary' between Walsh and his customers and co-ordinated onwards cocaine supply in the south coast area.
Notebooks later recovered from Walsh's then address in Daresbury Road, St Helens, referred to supplying 'Matty' with quarter kilos of cocaine. Lee was tracked making eight journeys from Cornwall to Liverpool, Birmingham and London, meeting Walsh in each location.
Their final meetings took place when Lee stayed at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool city centre, on February 28, where Walsh paid him a visit. Then on the morning of March 1, the pair boarded a train at Liverpool Lime Street station intending to travel to Cornwall.
Mr McNally said: "The court will recall from the sequence of events and CCTV footage how they sought to avoid direct contact and endeavoured to give the impression that they were not together. That was obviously due to the fact that both knew that Matthew Lee was carrying a large quantity of Cocaine in his holdall."
The pair were detained as they tried to change trains at Birmingham New Street station, and officers found a quarter of a kilo of cocaine in Lee's bag. The court heard Lee threw his hand in early and admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine, while Walsh fled in the following year after receiving a letter inviting him back for a second police interview.
The case was further delayed due to the trial of Sean Corrie, who was suspected of involvement in the conspiracy but found not guilty at trial. After being extradited from Spain, Walsh admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis, and possession of counterfeit money after £4,000 in fake bank notes was found at his address.
Garner and Stevens admitted supplying cannabis and were handed suspended prison sentences at the end of 2021.
Yesterday, Walsh appeared for sentence over video-link from prison, while Lee attended in person. Gurdeep Garcha, KC, representing Walsh, told the court his client had spent more than two years in custody since his extradition and had not been able to see his mum, partner and child for long stretches due to covid lockdowns.
The court heard that although his attempt to flee had delayed the case, other significant delays were not his fault. But Walsh also had previous convictions for supplying cocaine, described as a significantly aggravating factor.
Damian Nolan, representing Lee, said his client had made a 'grotesque error of judgment' but it was now almost five years since he was first arrested and Lee had 'shown another side of his character'. Mr Nolan said Lee had worked hard as a chef, with glowing references from his boss, and had supported his family through some difficult times including bereavement.
Mr Nolan pointed out Lee had indicated he would plead guilty at the earliest opportunity and none of the delays could be laid at his door. Judge Anil Murray, passing sentence, said he would reduce Lee's sentence to account for the delay. Walsh was jailed for 11 years and 11 months and Lee was locked up for four years.
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