A ‘distinguished’ serviceman started working as a drug runner after falling into ‘financial difficulties’ when he left the military.
Oliver Harrison, 34, moved multiple kilos of cocaine and heroin around the country and even agreed to transfer a gun between members of an organised crime group. He is one of two men who have been jailed after criminals’ chats on encrypted Encrochat phones during lockdown were discovered by law enforcement who hacked the network.
Peter Downs, 47, who was further up the chain of the organisation, and was involved in wholesale purchase and distribution of both cocaine and cannabis, has also been sentenced. The conspiracy was ‘well established’ and was ‘ongoing’ at the time police penetrated the Encrochat network, in the second quarter of 2020, Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court was told.
Both used monikers to hide their identity; Downs was ‘Garden Snail’ and Harrison ‘Optimal Tail’. The person at the head of the organisation was known as ‘Invisible Knight’ and there were discussions regarding the ‘purchase and logistical movement of drugs’, said Adam Lodge, prosecuting.
Peter Downs
(Image: Greater Manchester Police)
Downs was ‘actively concerned in the supply of multiple kilos of cocaine and cannabis, ‘with the help of ‘Invisible Knight’ Mr Lodge said. Whilst Harrison was employed by ‘Invisible Knight’ to move collections and deliveries.
On one occasion this involved a gun being supplied by Invisible Knight to another person, the court was told. The entire conspiracy is said to have involved the ‘acquisition and supply’ of around 30 kilos of cocaine.
Downs was personally ‘actively concerned’ in the ‘completed’ purchase and supply of six kilos of the drug between March and June 2020. He was also involved in discussions regarding four further kilos.
Jon Anders, defending Harrison 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. He also agreed to transfer a modified Bruni Olympic revolver.
When his home was searched, 1.9 kilos of amphetamine was found in his freezer.
Although Downs was further up the food chain, both played a ‘significant role’ Mr Lodge said. “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.”
Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester city centre
(Image: ABNM Photography)
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).
Mr Anders said Harrison was a ‘classic military character’ 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?”
Following a two-day sentence hearing which concluded on Monday (December 23) Downs was jailed for 13-and-a-half years and Harrison for eight years.
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.