A muscle-bound gang boss that dished out punishment beatings to underlings who crossed him is appealing his conviction and sentence, a court heard today.
Ahmed Sabbagh-Parry, 37, was the head of a Liverpool drugs network raking in dirty cash by dishing out heroin and crack-cocaine to addicts on the streets of Cardiff. Sabbagh-Parry lived in a city-centre apartment in Liverpool but had a network of lieutenants, couriers and street-dealers working for him.
The courts heard he had been in trouble for heroin trafficking in 2009, and did initially appear to steer clear of crime after his release from prison, running a seemingly honest car dealership in Ealing, London, between 2014 and 2017.
READ MORE: 'Nobody can touch us' shout teenage gang 'terrorising' city
However he sold up and returned to his native Liverpool, where he began running class A and B drugs into the Welsh capital. His luck ran out in 2018, when a Merseyside Police operation began tracking his organised crime group as part of an investigation dubbed Operation Chicago.
He was jailed for 19 years in April last year, although the case could not be reported until February this year to prevent prejudice to linked trials relating to other defendants.
Sabbagh-Parry appeared back in Liverpool Crown Court today via video-link from HMP Garth. The hearing related to an appeal against a confiscation order granted to Merseyside Police for the seizure of £7,500 in cash.
The fallen gang boss, who represented himself, told the court his appeal against sentence had been referred to the Court of Appeal for a full hearing. He also said he had renewed an application to appeal his conviction, after initially being denied leave to appeal by a single judge, the first stage in the appeal process.
Sarah Thompson, representing Merseyside Police, said: "In the circumstances I understand the appellant prefers this matter to sit behind the criminal appeal. I understand the appellant says the police placed an over-reliance on his criminal convictions in seeking the further detention of the money."
Judge David Aubrey, KC, agreed to adjourn the matter for a further mention hearing on June 23.
Back in 2022 in Liverpool Crown Court, Judge Louise Brandon said of Sabbagh-Parry: "The conspiracy was large, professional, sophisticated, well organised and planned and ultimately, largely successful. Great care was taken, particularly by you, to avoid detection by the police through the use of spoofing phones and the repeated changes of car and courier to transport the drugs.
"You were the only one in possession of a spoofing phone and you had three during the conspiracy. The drugs sourced were adulterated by the group. The finding of commercial quantities of adulterants, some 1.08 kilos, at one of the groups’ safehouses at Croxteth Road and a drugs press at another safe house in Banner Street indicates that the organisation retained control of the process and effectively acted as its own wholesaler, providing adulterated drugs in dealer amounts to be sold to end users, thereby maximising its profits."
In a lengthy series of trials and sentencings hearings, the court heard Sabbagh-Parry and his "right hand man" Neil Christopher, from Dingle, were the top end of the conspiracy. In contrast, taxi driver Amar Al-Soralmi, 31, was "placed" in the Welsh capital by Sabbagh-Parry and used to run the Cardiff end of the conspiracy, also on occasion acting as a courier ferrying cash and drugs between the two cities.
Al-Soralmi was the last defendant to face sentence after a lengthy series of trials and hearings, which had been further delayed by his decision to flee to Egypt after his initial arrest.
What emerged was a picture of a man who found the pressure of the criminal life took its toll. Simon Parry, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court: "By October 2018 there must have been some problems in the group as Ahmed Sabbagh-Parry travelled to Cardiff with another male who the prosecution say was placed down in Cardiff to oversee and supervise Amar Al-Soralmi.
"Further evidence of the problem came at about the end of October when the group were consistently unable to reach Al-Soralmi by phone. He had taken himself away from Cardiff.
"Ahmed Sabbagh-Parry was extremely keen to get hold of him, calling repeatedly and getting others to try and locate him as well. Al-Soralmi did not re-surface until November 9, 2018. He was collected from his girlfriend’s address in Widnes and taken to Liverpool.
"On this day Ahmed Sabbagh-Parry returned to Liverpool from Cardiff and the two men met in the Toxteth area. It is accepted by the prosecution that by now Al-Soralmi was in serious trouble with Sabbagh-Parry and the account he gives in his defence statement regarding a beating is accepted. That evening he had been seen at Whiston Hospital with injuries to his chest and upper back.
"He gave a false explanation of martial arts training to the doctors. Therefore, with punishment inflicted, Al-Soralmi was sent back to Cardiff the following day."
Passing sentence, Judge Brandon told Sabbagh-Parry: "You played your part in bringing misery in the form of Class A drugs which you orchestrated the supply of. You then cynically reaped reward by causing suffering to countless lives, not just of those who take the drugs you supplied but on the wider community whose lives are blighted by those who commit crime to pay for your drugs.
"You did all this out of greed. It is selfishness beyond contemplation."
READ NEXT:
Teacher's head stamped on as he lay unconscious outside takeaway
EncroChat drug boss ran rural lab while director of chemical company
Gino D'Acampo's Liverpool restaurant slapped with one star hygiene rating
Iceland fans praise 'tastiest ever' Slimming World meal
Share a Random Act of Kindness and celebrate Merseyside's warm heart
