A serviceman and a man from Bacup have been jailed for their roles in an organised crime group.
Oliver Harrison started working as a drug runner after leaving the military and falling into financial problems. He moved kilos of cocaine and heroin around the country, even agreeing to transfer a gun between members of an organised crime group.
The 34-year-old is one of two men who have been jailed for their crimes, after criminals’ chats on encrypted Encrochat phones during lockdown were discovered by law enforcement who hacked the network.
The other man was Peter Downs from Bacup, who was also sentenced. 47-year-old Downs was far up in the chain of organisation and was involved in wholesale purchase and distribution of both cocaine and cannabis.
At the time the police penetrated the network, the conspiracy was ‘well-established’ and ‘ongoing’ in the second quarter of 2020, Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court was told. The Manchester Evening News reports the two men used monikers to hide their identities.
Oliver Harrison
(Image: Greater Manchester Police)
Downs was known as ‘Garden Snail’ and Harrison as ‘Optimal Tail’. At the head of the organisation was ‘Invisible Knight’ and discussions were had on the ‘purchase and logistical movement of drugs’, said Adam Lodge, prosecuting.
Mr Lodge said Downs was ‘actively concerned in the supply of multiple kilos of cocaine and cannabis, ‘with the help of ‘Invisible Knight’. He was also personally ‘actively concerned’ in the ‘completed’ purchase and supply of six kilos of the drug between March and June 2020 and was involved in discussions regarding four further kilos.
Harrison was employed by ‘Invisible Knight’ to move collections and deliveries. As part of this, a gun had bene supplied by Invisible Knight to another person, the court was told. In total, the entire conspiracy is said to have involved the ‘acquisition and supply’ of around 30 kilos of cocaine.
Defending Harrison, Jon Anders, said he was ’employed’ by the criminals and was ‘simply a courier’ who earned between five and seven thousand pounds for his work. The court heard he was involved in the movement of 16 kilos of cocaine with a wholesale value of £580,000 and also one kilo of heroin.
When his home was searched, 1.9 kilos of amphetamine was found in his freezer.
Downs was further up the food chain, but according to Mr Lodge, played a ‘significant role’. “You can’t have drug dealers without couriers,” Judge Recorder Jason MacAdam said. Later adding: “You wouldn’t find an Encrochat phone in the pocket of a street dealer.”
Harrison, of Hawthorn Drive, Glossop, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs (heroin and cocaine), possession with intent to supply Class B drugs (Amphetamine) and conspiracy to transfer a firearm. Downs, of Rochdale Road, Bacup, Lancs, admitted conspiracy to supply Class A (cocaine) and Class B drugs (cannabis).
Harrison was described as a ‘classic military character’ by Mr Anders, who left the forces as his ‘career prospects had stagnated’ and he ‘wanted to be closer to his daughter.’ However, he said, he ‘ended up in financial distress’ and got involved in the conspiracy as he was ‘desperate for money.’
“He’s deviated and made the wrong choice,” Mr Anders said. “He may well have been undone by the favourable characteristics which led him to have such a distinguished service career.”
“He didn’t look too closely at what he was carrying” he said, adding that his agreement to move the gun was a one-off and an ‘aberration.’ Benjamin Knight, defending Downs said: “Dealing in drugs is dealing in misery, and that is a point not lost on Mr Downs.”
He said Downs had built a legitimate business which began to ‘collapse around him’ during COVID and he ‘couldn’t put food on the table for his family.’ “He was dealing with all manner of complications in terms of his family and his responsibilities to his children” he said.
In response, Judge McAdam said: “We have all been there, and been through difficult times. But I don’t know about you – I didn’t start dealing Class A drugs?”
On Monday December 23, Downs was jailed for 13-and-a-half years and Harrison for eight years following a two-day sentence hearing. Sentencing, the judge said that he had sympathy for Downs’ ‘hardship’, but added: “[His family’s] suffering is due entirely to him. He knew the consequences for them and was prepared to put their wellbeing at risk.”
For Harrison, he said he would receive extra credit due to serving the country with ‘distinction’. He added that he played a ‘logistical’ part in the operation.
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