Organised crime group led by Wigan members trafficked £53m worth of drugs across the UK

Carlisle Crown Court heard how the discovery of a 1kg class A drug stash, at Bowness-on-Windermere in the Lake District, during early February 2023, prompted police to make arrests and seize the phones of three key players.

During what became Cumbria’s biggest ever drug investigation, officers amassed a “mammoth amount” of detailed evidence including damning WhatsApp group message chat which showed 10 men — most from Greater Manchester — had each been vital cogs in a huge criminal cocaine supply wheel.

This ran for almost 15 months, from March, 2022, to May last year.

Nine of the men eventually rounded up and brought to court admitted conspiracy to supply the class A drug. A 10th was convicted of the offence following a trial earlier this year.

As their sentencing hearing got under way today (March 13), prosecutor Tim Evans called the scale of the plot “truly massive”.

In excess of 300kg of high purity cocaine, with an estimated street level value of between £35million and £53million, was moved by highly trusted criminal couriers. The drug had been imported from abroad before being warehoused and then distributed to towns and cities across the UK. Destinations included Cumbria, Hexham and Newcastle.

Mr Evans described the overall geographical scale as “extremely wide”, saying: “It featured places including the Fylde coast, Yorkshire, various parts of the Midlands, the North East, South and North Wales and various other parts of England and Wales.”

Those at the top of the criminal tree had contact with cartels in Dubai and also high level individuals in Portugal.

Leading lights Simon Buller, 45, of Freshfield Avenue, Atherton, and 41-year-old Andrew Stephens, of East Field Drive, Golborne headed up one OCG.

Buller was also associated with a second OCG, in Lancashire.

Daryll Preston, 36, of Hampson Street, Atherton, also played a leading role and was an associate of Scott Owen, 33, of Salisbury Way, Tyldesley, who facilitated cocaine supply and had contacts abroad.

Reece Barnes, 31, of Elim Grove, Bowness-on-Windermere, was a “regional retailer” and a Cumbrian arm of the operation.

He sourced and distributed kilo quantities on a commercial level within the county having stashed the product in a Lakes lock-up.

Barnes’ main supplier was Stephen Stockall, 63, of Well Lane, Weaverham, Northwich, who made 16 trips to Cumbria — eight to deliver cocaine and eight more to collect cash. Stockall also ran a separate Cheshire-based drug-dealing operation.

Four criminal couriers were trusted to transport cocaine potentially worth many millions of pounds and cash running into the hundreds of thousands.

Thomas Whittaker, 45, of Brierfield, Digmoor, Skelmersdale; Michael Evans, 36 of no fixed address; and 32-year-old Greater Manchester man Cain Turner, of no fixed address; made multiple journeys across England, into Wales and to Glasgow and Edinburgh between them.

On three separate occasions, Anthony Warhurst, 58, of Knowsley Street, Leigh, collected cast quantities of cocaine which had been imported into Harwich.

Mr Evans said of an overall “business model” employed in the case: “This was an inter-linked group of people, say the Crown, and supply relationships would shift within the conspiracy if a particular conspirator was having difficulties at a particular time.”

Some criminal “middle men” involved in the plot never actually took possession of cocaine themselves, neither did they use their own couriers, the court heard. Instead they simply acted as drug supply “brokers” — putting manufacturers of product in contact with wholesale dealers — and took a wage for that role.

With a nod to the online retail giant, Mr Evans added: “This is Amazon-style drug-dealing with that level of organisation and commerciality about it.”

Barristers representing each conspirator will make submissions and provide mitigation later today and tomorrow (March 14), before Judge Nicholas Barker hands down the respective sentences.

The hearing continues.