A dealer selling a range of illegal drugs on the dark web used the NHS logo and dubbed his site the "Narcotic Health Service", a court has heard. Kurtis Dunphy was offering Class A drugs such as LSD, ecstasy, and the powerful opioid oxycodone for sale on his site along Valium-type drugs and cannabis. When the FBI took down the underground trading platform he was using the defendant simply moved his operation to another one and continued in business.
Swansea Crown Court heard that when Welsh police tracked him down and executed a search warrant at his home he was logged onto his online selling site and tried to destroy evidence by throwing a glass a water over his laptop keyboard in the hope of causing it to crash. The attempt failed, and the 25-year-old year has now been sent to prison for four years.
Read more: Get the latest court cases sent to your email inbox with our Crime & Punishment newsletter
Kevin Barry, prosecuting, told the court that Dunphy had been operating a drug-selling operation on the Alpha Bay platform – a trading site on the dark or hidden web – under the username Bob Marley Man. The site carried the widely-recognised NHS logo as its badge along with the strapline: "Narcotic Health Service". The barrister said that among the substances being offered for sale on the site was the Class A drug oxycodone – a powerful semi-synthetic opioid for which there is a "substantial black market" operating in the US and increasingly in Europe and the UK.
In July 2017 law enforcement agencies in America including the FBI took down Alpha Bay and got access to its computer servers which allowed them to examine a wealth of data on the people who had been buying and in particular selling on the site. Details of British sellers were subsequently passed to the UK's National Crime Agency who passed it on to local forces. The court heard that data recovered by the FBI showed Dunphy had sold more than 7,000 oxycodone tablets in variously-sized blister packs before the site was taken down.
The barrister said shortly after Alpha Bay was closed the defendant set up another dark web trading account, this time on the Dream Market platform and again under the user name Bob Marley Man, which advertised a range of drugs for sale including oxycodone, LSD, ecstasy, and cannabis along with drugs paraphernalia such as bongs. He said police did not have access to the details of the transactions carried out on the site and had only been able to monitor its activities but he said it was clear from the customer comments left on the site that drugs were being bought and sold in some of the more than 1,700 transactions observed.
Mr Barry said the police investigation was also able to identify Dunphy as a user on Local Bitcoin – a peer-to-peer exchange platform for the cryptocurrency – and found he had used his parents' address in Port Talbot when he registered. The defendant was also linked to an eBay account called Smoke Essentials UK.
In February 2019 police executed a search warrant at an address in Marlborough Road in the Brynmill area of Swansea where Dunphy was living with his partner. The court heard that as officers entered the property the defendant threw a glass a water over his open laptop computer to try to short it but that attempted failed and police found the device was logged in to the Dream Market platform. A number of phones and other electronic devices were seized for examination and police also recovered 50g of herbal cannabis. The barrister described Dunphy as someone with "considerable technical skills and expertise" with computers.
The court heard that in his subsequent interview Dunphy said he was on a deferral year from university and had started using the dark web to buy drugs after developing a "heavy drug habit". He said he had helped a friend to set up the Bob Marley Man account but had not realised it was being used to sell illegal items – a version of events the defendant no longer maintains.
Kurtis Jordan Dunphy, of Brentry Road, Fishponds, Bristol, had previously pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of oxycodone, being concerned in the supply of Etizolam, being concerned in the supply of cannabis, being concerned in the supply of alprazolam, being concerned in the making of an offer to supply LSD, being concerned in the making of an offer to supply MDMA – ecstasy – and possession of cannabis with intent to supply when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has previous convictions for the simple possession of drugs and for drug-driving.
Andrew Hill, for Dunphy, said the defendant had begun selling items that were legal but then as his life became "chaotic" it was accepted he had moved into selling unlawful items. He said his client's life had "gone off the rails" during his first year at university with depression exacerbated by alcohol and drug misuse including of the powerful drug ketamine. The barrister said that since his arrest Dunphy had taken great strides to turn his life around with the help of his family, friends, and partner, was doing good work in the community, and was studying for an MSc in digital marketing at university in Bristol.
Recorder Simon Hughes said the offending was so serious only an immediate custodial sentence could be justified. With a one-quarter discount for his guilty pleas Dunphy was sentenced to a total for four years in prison. The defendant will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
READ NEXT:
Cocaine dealer paid £30k cash for Mercedes AMG and hid it from girlfriend
Predatory sex offender seen 'loitering in changing rooms and giving sweets to children'
Drug dealer's trousers fell down in police scuffle to reveal stash hidden in pants
Cocaine dealer rammed man's van after challenging him to fight at bingo hall
Man had sexual relationship with his own daughter who had grown up believing he was dead
You can sign up to our regular Crime and Punishment newsletter here while this interactive tool allows you to check the latest crime statistics for your area:
