A grandad who ran a heroin trafficking gang has been locked up.
Lorry driver Stanley Feerick transported hundreds of thousands of pounds of the Class A drug across the country, as well as being part of a crime group behind a £1million amphetamine lab.
The pensioner was also previously jailed for 10 years after being the ringleader of a money laundering racket, the ECHO reports.
He was one of six people jailed over a £350,000 scheme which saw dirty cash, which was delivered by a "big ugly man who looked like Shrek", kept at a home in Dovecot, Liverpool.
Edna Fairclough was in on the crime as well and records showed the 53-year-old had been claimed benefits while splurging on a family trip to Las Vegas.
When officers raided the home she shared with Feerick on Longreach Road, Louis Vuitton, Mulberry and Prada handbags were discovered as well as Vivienne Westwood jewellery and a gold diamond ring valued at £27,885.
The court was told Everton fan Feerick, then 59, had a personalised EFC1 licence plate which had a retail value of £26,175 as well as a £4,083 season ticket in the Brian Labone executive lounge at Goodison Park.
When the search warrant was executed in February 2011, officers discovered £126,005 in cash in separate packages. These included £89,800 in a red Henry bag in the kitchen, £13,940 in a carrier bag on the living room floor and £12,890 in a Harvey Nichols shopping bag in the master bedroom.
When quizzed by detectives over the find, Fairclough claimed that a man looking like Shrek had dropped off the cash but she didn't know why.
That man was identified as Ian Shephard, 36, from Prescot, who had pictures of him and Fairclough socialising on his computer.
Feerick also arranged another transaction, where 52-year-old Robert Sefton, of Sandringham Road in Tuebrook, delivered £224,810 in cash to William Roscoe, 34.
Feerick, who claimed to supplement his income by selling fairground rides, had initially claimed the cash seized at his home was his life savings. He was jailed for two years in 2013, with all six having admitted their respective roles.
Fairclough and Watkinson were each handed 15 months behind bars, while Sefton and Roscoe received 16 months, with Shephard imprisoned for a year.
Feerick has now been caught again after a National Crime Agency probe which was set up to investigate a run by Terence Earle via encrypted communications platform EncroChat.
Earle, 49, of Freckleton Road in St Helens, "enlisted the help of subordinates" such as Feerick and Stephen King in carrying out his illicit activities.
The court was previously told the racket was involved in the importation of drugs "from Europe and beyond" and had a "secret laboratory" in Scotland.
Covert surveillance captured a meeting between Feerick and King in November 2020, with Feerick arrested shortly afterwards while driving a lorry on the M6 southbound.
Inside the HGV, 2.9kg of heroin, worth around £300,000, as well as £20,000 in Scottish bank notes, were discovered.
Police then searched his home and uncovered more monies to the value of £9,370.
A fifth conspirator, Stephen Singleton, used his "apparently legitimate chemicals company" in order to "supply the necessary ingredients for large amounts of amphetamine".
He too operated using an Encro phone, giving Earle his custom in "commercial if not industrial quantities".
In April, 2020, the 32-year-old supplied 500 litres of isopropyl alcohol in return for payment of £4,000.
Singleton was seen meeting a delivery driver at Costco in Haydock and unloading a number of large drums filled with the substance from his vehicle into a Transit van.
William Beardmore, prosecuting, described on Thursday 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".
Philip Tully, defending, told the court that his client believed there had only been cash stashed in the incriminating hold-all.
He also said the "loving father and grandfather" had a number of health problems.
"His involvement was due to a long-standing friendship with Terence Earle," Mr Tully explained.
"That friendship led him to be involved, at some stage, in the commission of these offences.
"He has genuine remorse for his actions. He took the stupid decision, because of friendship, to become involved in these offences.
"There is a completely different side to Mr Feerick. He is capable of leading a constructive life with legitimate employment.
"He is not a well man. He is going to find it extremely difficult to serve a custodial sentence, something he has not done for 10 years."
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.
Sentencing, the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC said: "You plainly worked closely with Terence Earle. The role played by you was an important one.
"Plainly you were playing an operational function, liaising between others. You were using your employment as a HGV driver as a cover, and you plainly had an awareness of the scale of the operation.
"This was serious offending. You knew full well what you were doing and the consequences of getting caught."
Singleton, of York Road in Birkdale, admitted conspiracy to produce amphetamine and was handed 41 months behind bars in April, to be served consecutively to a separate term of nine years and two months.
Baxter, of Eldersfield Road in Norris Green, pleaded guilty to participating in the activities of an organised crime group and the 48-year-old was given a 22-month imprisonment suspended for 18 months, 150 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 15 days.
King, of Garshake Terrace in Dumbarton, was found guilty of participating in the activities of an organised crime group following a trial.
The 49-year-old was handed 18 months suspended for 18 months plus 100 hours of unpaid work and a 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement.
