A drugs gang boss who pocketed more than £126,000 from peddling misery has to pay back less than £15,000 of his dirty cash.
Ryan O'Connor was a leading figure in a heroin and cocaine supply network that was smashed after police infiltrated encrypted chats. The Gateshead -based dealers thought they were above the law while operating under the radar on EncroChat - using monikers including Peach Pear and Rookie Fox.
But when police hacked the system, the evidence of what they were up to was laid bare. We reported last year how O'Connor and trusted sidekicks Keith Robert Brown and Steven Cairns were jailed for more than 28 years while Cairns' partner, Tanya Brown, got a suspended sentence at Newcastle Crown Court.
Read more: Grandad brutally murdered by childhood friend when crack cocaine binge sparked paranoia
Now O'Connor's case has been back in court as prosecutors saw to claw back his ill-gotten gains. It was revealed he had benefitted to the tune of £126,569 but his available assets are £14,599, which is the amount he must pay back, unless he comes into further money. He has 28 days to pay it or faces 12 months in prison in default.
Messages revealed O'Connor told someone he owed £350,000 for drugs and was paying it back at £100,000 to £150,000 a month. He also said he was selling around three to four kilos of heroin a month but that was not meeting demand and he could shift more if he had it.
Christopher Rose, prosecuting, said at the sentencing hearing last year: "3.5 kilos of class A drugs were found when he was arrested, clearly indicating multi-kilo supply."
In April 2020, O'Connor arranged to buy a kilo of heroin for £17,500 from a contact in Liverpool using the name Rookie Fox. O'Connor's and Keith Robert Brown's phones were shown to have travelled to Liverpool on the day in question.
Rookie Fox later complained the handover had been "botched" and "amateur" and that the money was £2,000 short. O'Connor said someone else was meant to be handing over the rest of the money but had been "on the sniff" the previous evening.
In May, O'Connor agreed to buy two kilos of heroin from Rookie Fox and was in touch with a contact in Bradford called Brittle Jet, who he agreed to buy a kilo of cocaine from. He attended the deal in a BMW and later thanked Brittle Jet for making him welcome and said he wanted to expand his business. He later agreed to buy a kilo of heroin from him.
After busting EncroChat, police raided Brown's home and found £140,000 of cash plus crack, cocaine and heroin. He tried to flee in his underwear but was arrested. At Cairns' home three ounces of crack were found along with a cocaine press and debtors list.
In total, £150,000 of cash, 1.7 kilos of cocaine worth £70,000 wholesale and 1.8 kilos of heroin, worth up to £34,000 wholesale, was recovered. No drugs were found at O'Connor's home but when he was arrested he was trying to hide his burner phone in the laundry basket.
O'Connor, Brown and Cairns admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine. O'Connor also admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and being concerned in the production of cannabis. Brown also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin, possessing with intent to supply heroin and cocaine and possessing £36,000 of criminal property - cash found at his house.
O'Connor's home had previously been searched in September 2018, when they found 79g of crack cocaine, 17g of heroin, 10g of cocaine and 53g of cannabis. The total value of the drugs was up to £10,500 and there was also around £5,000 cash. O'Connor pleaded guilty to possessing all four drugs with intent to supply, on the basis he was warehousing them, and money laundering. In October 2019 a search of his home discovered £8,700 cash and digital scales. He admitted possessing criminal property but claimed some of the money was from selling puppies and cash in hand work.
Tanya Brown admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and Steven Cairns also admitted possessing with intent to supply cocaine.
O'Connor, 31, of Mersey Place, Gateshead, who was reprimanded as a 12-year-old for possession with intent to supply cannabis, was jailed for 16 years. Robert Brown, 63, of Greenland Gardens, Gateshead, was locked up for five years and three months. Cairns, 40, of Newman Place, Gateshead, who was jailed for eight years in 2012 for conspiracy to supply class A drugs, was locked up for seven years. Tanya Brown, 38, of Newman Place, Gateshead, was given two years suspended for two years with 300 hours unpaid work.
Tony Cornberg, for O'Connor, said: "He says he did it because he got a buzz out of it and it made him feel young. He has a history of working but saw a quick way to make some money in the short term. He may have been talking up the money involved, particularly when someone like Ryan O'Connor has their 15 minutes of fame. He was entirely out of his league."
Stuart Graham, for Robert Brown, said he is a grandfather who had worked hard around the world for a pipeline company and has health issues. He added: "He is absolutely not only sorry and remorseful but devastated that he has brought this on his family. They are devastated and he has let everybody down."
Tony Davis, for Cairns, said his involvement in the conspiracy offence was one trip to Bradford with O'Connor when he drove. He added that he was not on EncroChat and was doing a "mediocre trade". He said the former soldier got involved after being subject to threats, an arson attack, his car being blown up and being assaulted with a hammer.
Rachel Hedworth, for Tanya Brown, said she is a grandmother who became involved out of misplaced loyalty to Cairns and supplied to friends and family. She said she regrets her actions, has never been a drug user, didn't get any financial reward and is usually hard working. Miss Hedworth said Brown got involved after discovering partner Cairns had huge drug debts and had been threatened and attacked.
Read now:
