A grandad lorry driver puffed out his cheeks and said 'wow' after being caged for eight-and-a-half years for his role in a drug gang running an "industrial scale" amphetamine factory in Motherwell.
Stanley Feerick, from Liverpool, was the final member of the group to be sentenced for his role in the huge operation. He trafficked hundreds of thousands of pounds of heroin and cocaine across the UK.
The 68-year-old was arrested in November 2020 after being stopped by the police while driving a lorry containing 2.9 kilos of heroin, worth £300,000, and tens of thousands of pounds in cash at a motorway service station.
The following month, more than 560 kilos of alpha-phenylacetoacetamide (APAA), a substance used in the production of amphetamine, was found in a lorry which the Nation Crime Agency had discovered was loaded on the orders of Feerick.
That amount of APAA could have produced amphetamine worth around £1.1m. A search of Feerick’s home led to the recovery of another £9,370 in cash.
Feerick’ was part of a crime gang that was snared by the NCA which uncovered encrypted messages of their illicit activities.
Liverpool Crown Court was previously told how the gang was involved in the importation of drugs "from Europe and beyond" and had a "secret laboratory" in Scotland.
The group included ringleader Terence Earle and three other accomplices, Stephen Singleton, Lee Baxter and Stephen King, who were all sentenced in April 2023.
Lancashire Police seized the 560kg of alpha-phenylacetoacetamide from the lorry loaded in Blackpool and was on its way to to a garage in Motherwell.
Covert surveillance captured a meeting between Feerick and King in November 2020, with the former arrested shortly afterwards while driving a lorry on the M6 southbound.
A hold-all inside the HGV contained 2.9kg of heroin, class A drugs worth around £300,000, as well as £20,000 in Scottish bank notes.
EncroChat messages also discovered the outfit had also been involved in shipping cocaine between England and Scotland, with all four men then being arrested in March 2021.
The court heard yesterday how Feerick directed officers to the bag full of cash and vacuum packed drugs, which had been stowed in his cab, when he was stopped.
He had also "organised transport and drivers" for chemicals to be taken to Scotland, "appearing to have used his legitimate work as cover" - having been employed as a lorry driver by a Knowsley-based firm.
Philip Tully, defending, told the court his client believed there had only been cash stashed in the incriminating hold-all.
He also pointed to a number of health difficulties experienced by the "loving father and grandfather", who suffers from diabetes and has undergone treatment for an eye condition.
Feerick admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and participating in the activities of an organised crime group. He was jailed for eight-and-a-half years.
NCA Branch Commander Richie Davies said: “Today's sentencing marks the complete dismantling of a crime group that operated from the north of England to Scotland, and sought to make huge profits from a trade that fuels violence and exploitation.
“The NCA continued to work to protect the public from the highest risk criminals impacting on the UK.”
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