A grandad turned to trafficking millions of pounds of drugs after being sacked from his warehouse job and threatening to spray paint the words "nonce" and "paedophile" over his manager's house.
Peter Melia was stopped on the motorway while couriering a huge £11million stash of heroin and crack cocaine, which was packed inside bags for life concealed in a hidden compartment inside his van. It came after he found himself unemployed and racking up debts due to his cannabis habit.
The now 46-year-old previously appeared in court in April last year after flying into a rage when he was dismissed from his role as a warehouseman at a company in Speke. The ECHO reported on that occasion that the dad-of-four and grandfather-of-two reacted "very badly" when his manager called him into his office and fired him on January 6, 2021.
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Christopher Taylor, prosecuting, said Melia threatened to spray paint his manager's house and the business. Police were called and the defendant, then of Worcester Avenue in Clubmoor, was arrested.
He told officers under interview that he "couldn't be bothered" and said "you know what it's all about". Melia later pleaded guilty to threatening to damage property in relation to the incident.
John Weate, defending, described how his client had remained out of trouble with the law between 2003 and 2019 while in stable employment but "lost that job as a consequence of his own actions when he was disqualified from driving". The father then secured work at the firm from which he was dismissed two years later.
Sentencing Melia to a 12-month community order during this court appearance, Judge David Swinnerton said: "You need to learn to control your anger, because what you did back on January 6, 2021, is lash out verbally in a way that was meant to frighten your then boss, who was in the process of sacking you, and was meant to be unpleasant to him. I'm not here to determine the rights and wrongs of how you were sacked, but there are employment tribunals if you're unhappy about the way you've been sacked.
"The way to deal with it is not to make frightening verbal threats. Those threats included damaging his home, making him fully aware you knew what his home address was - you did that to intimidate."
Liverpool Crown Court then heard last week that officers stopped a white Ford Transit van being driven by the 46-year-old - now of Ballantyne Road in Clubmoor - at around midday on September 3 last year near to junction 16 of the M6 at Keele in Staffordshire. Mark Phillips, prosecuting, described how a search of the vehicle revealed a hidden compartment which contained six bags for life with 64 blocks of drugs wrapped in brown tape inside.
These amounted to 107.92kg of cocaine with a purity of between 88 and 91%, drugs with a street value of up to £10.7m, and 19.5kg of heroin of 52% purity - worth as much as £1.1m. Melia previously claimed he believed he had been transporting cannabis, but has now resiled from this basis of plea.
The former lorry and taxi driver has a total of 10 previous convictions for 34 offences. Peter White, defending, told the court that his client, who is a dad-of-four and grandad-of-two, had been a cannabis user who racked up debts after losing his job as a warehouseman.
He added: "Mr Melia is at pains to point out that he is utterly ashamed and devastated by his behaviour. He is disgusted by his own actions. Quite simply, he would say he was in a very difficult position and at quite a low ebb. It was incredibly stupid of him to become involved.
"There was a considerable gap in his offending. He was in full-time employment and had stability in his home life. He was doing well. Unfortunately, that didn't last and Mr Melia found himself where he is today.
"There isn't anything to suggest that Mr Melia is the brains of any operation. I ask your honour to pass a sentence which gives Mr Melia some hope and allows him to contribute something to society, which clearly he is able to do."
Melia admitted possession of cocaine and heroin during an earlier hearing. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool on Thursday, February 9, he was jailed for 10 years and eight months.
Sentencing, Recorder Ian Harris said: "You were doing this for money because you accrued debts. A lot of people accrue debts but do not resort to serious drug dealing.
"You clearly played an absolutely vital and trusted role in the movement of a huge volume of drugs in high purity amounts. You are contributing to the degradation and misery that drugs cause to those who take them, their families and the wider community which is affected by crimes committed by those addicted to them."
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