Ellesmere Port drug dealer jailed for supply of class A drugs
He'll be behind bars for a total of 14 years
A man in Ellesmere Port was caught using an encrypted messaging service to communicate on a large-scale drugs conspiracy during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Jay Roberts, of Nelson Road, Ellesmere Port, appeared at Chester Crown Court today (Friday 3 May) where he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
He had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine, MDMA, ketamine, and cannabis, conspiracy to produce MDMA and possession of criminal property.
Detectives from Cheshire’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) analysed the encrypted data used by Roberts and read his messages to other EncroChat users where he discussed buying and selling cocaine, MDMA, ketamine, and cannabis, between March 2020 and June 2020.
Following the breakthrough, officers discovered messages sent by Roberts, who went by the username ‘Ripebrow’, where he openly discussed how the Covid-19 lockdown could prove beneficial to his criminal enterprise.
The 31-year-old talked about how the additional restrictions put in place due to the pandemic would render other drug dealing competitors out of pocket and unable to access their supply, meaning the market for these illegal drugs would increase and Roberts could make even more profits.
He then used his national upstream suppliers to source large amounts of class A and B drugs before redistributing the supply to other Encrochat users.
Roberts was also trusted to accrue multi-kilo drug orders on ‘tick’ (also known as credit) and would at times be in over £100,000 worth of debt with his suppliers.
He began operating at such a high level of criminality that he was in early discussions about the potential importation of significant quantities of controlled drugs in to the UK.
The scale of his criminality was assessed, revealing that Roberts sourced 19 kilograms of cocaine, three kilograms of MDMA, 1.5 kilograms of ketamine, and 23 kilograms of cannabis between March 2020 and June 2020.
At around 1.40pm on Tuesday 28 November 2023, ANPR cameras alerted officers to a white Mercedes travelling on the M6 that had previously been linked to Roberts.
With assistance from the police helicopter, officers surrounded his car, forcing him to come to a stop, and he was subsequently arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply class A controlled drugs.
After he was arrested and taken into custody for questioning, his home was searched, and significant quantities of cocaine and cannabis were found. A storage unit used by Roberts was also identified and searched. This led to the discovery of a press used to produce ecstasy tablets (MDMA), a cash counting machine and other drug paraphernalia, including dealer lists.
He was charged with an array of drug offences, including conspiracy to supply class A and B drugs and being concerned in the production of a class A drugs.