An EncroChat dealer who arranged to import cocaine from Spain moaned that South American drug cartels were "becoming greedy", a court heard.
John Hassall, 53, of Laird Street, Birkenhead, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to three counts of offering to supply cocaine, heroin and cannabis. The 53-year-old is also currently serving a seven and a half year sentence for his involvement in the importation of 80 kilograms of cannabis into Portsmouth from Santander in June 2020.
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Gerald Baxter, prosecuting, told the court that between March and June 2020, Hassall, who was living in Spain at the time, was using an Encrochat device to facilitate the sale of drugs under the handle 'SwiftHawk' when the encrypted phone network was hacked by European law enforcement agencies.
Conversations between Hassall and his son, who was using the name TrustedBat, along with other personal details shared, confirmed that the phone belonged to the defendant.
Messages sent between March 26, 2020, and June 9, 2020, show that the defendant was in contact with 12 other handles. Mr Baxter added: “Hassall must have been involved before that start date, in order to establish a trusted relationship with the other handles.”
The prosecution referenced a host of messages sent by the defendant to various handles, including LockStar, OctoberMoon, SneakyStone and UnrealPenguin. On March 23, Hassall offered a kilogram of cocaine for £42,000 per kilogram, and complained that he was “stuck in Spain” and couldn’t get back to the UK.
Other messages showed Hassall complaining that South American cartels had “become greedy” and giving information to other handles about when and where “pickups” would take place. Later the same month, he sent a message stating that a “taxi went today”, carrying drugs to either an airport or port, and in April, he referenced a “taxi depot in Seville”.
Further messages show the defendant telling someone they could get “£200-250,000 just taking the orders” and that they could “fly them in the hundreds for £1950 per kilo”. Hassall also bragged to one handle that he had 11 acres of land and various livestock in Spain.
He claimed: “if I didn’t gamble I would have had a million under the floorboards”. In total, the amounts linked to Hassall are just over 18 kilograms of cocaine, one kilogram of heroin, and 56 kilograms of cannabis.
The 53-year old has 25 previous convictions, including for burglary, wounding, affray, possession of cannabis, and battery. Hassall’s son, Jon Hassall, 23, of Witley Close, Moreton was sentenced to seven years in prison on February 9, 2022, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis after he sent a selfie using his Encro phone.
Daniel Travers, defending, suggested that several of the messages found were written out of a sense of bravado, and that his client was not a mastermind in this case. He also highlighted that his client was only a “broker”, and did not directly supply anyone, and suggested he played an even lesser role when it came to the supply of the class A drugs.
Mr Travers said: “There must be a distinction between someone who supplies five kilograms and someone who simply offers to supply, he is clearly inexperienced in the supply of cocaine and heroin. “Overall, there was only one occasion where he attempted to source cocaine.
“He is not directing or organising, he is a middle man”. In sentencing, The Honorary Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Andrew Menary KC described the messages sent as “mundane” stating this was because those involved believed their activities “would never come to light”.
He said: “You were part of a network that were all playing a part in this miserable trade.” Hassall was sentenced to 12 and a half years and shook his head when told his sentence.
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