Son of lead singer of The Farm jailed over £1.3m drug plot
Thomas Hooton sent pictures of his famous father to other dealers on an encrypted messaging app
A Liverpool man who acted as a trusted broker for multi-million-pound drug deals across the UK has been jailed after encrypted messages linked him to his famous father — the lead singer of 1990s band The Farm.
Thomas Hooton, 30, from Victoria Road West in Crosby, was sentenced to 10 years and eight months at Liverpool Crown Court today (Friday, 25th July) after admitting to conspiring to supply heroin, cocaine, cannabis and ketamine.
Hooton used the alias ‘Ownraptor’ on EncroChat — a now-infiltrated encrypted messaging platform that once allowed criminals to operate under false identities, shielded from law enforcement. The service was secretly cracked in 2020 by a European-led taskforce, with the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) leading the response under Operation Venetic.
Messages recovered from the service revealed Hooton's involvement in county lines drug supply operations stretching from Scotland to the south of England.
Investigators from Merseyside’s Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) — a joint team from the NCA and Merseyside Police — identified him after he sent a photo of his father, Peter Hooton, holding the Champions League trophy.
Other encrypted messages revealed personal details, such as driving a black Audi A3 — a vehicle insured by his father — and references to his “arl fella” helping with insurance, all helping police confirm his identity.
DCI Lynsay Armbruster of Merseyside Police said:
“It’s clear Hooton was involved in organised crime for a long time before he was charged. His criminal and geographical reach will have taken considerable time to establish. His drug supply operations were on an almost daily basis, they were sustained and spanned the UK working with high-level criminals.”
The court heard Hooton had contact with 41 separate EncroChat handles and was at the very least responsible for trafficking:
42.5kg of cannabis
3.25kg of heroin
10kg of cocaine
1kg of ketamine
He also discussed handling £400,000 in cash and owing £258,000 to others in the network. His criminal activity took place between 26th March and 4th June 2020.
EncroChat’s takedown continues to yield results, with law enforcement across Europe still making arrests based on data recovered during the breach.
The Merseyside OCP remains committed to targeting organised crime groups and preventing drugs and firearms from entering local and regional criminal markets.