WIREDGOV

A haulage company boss who used his business as cover for transporting cocaine has been jailed following a National Crime Agency investigation.

Guy Mitchell, 56, from Blaydon on Tyne, Tyne and Wear, paid one of his HGV drivers to collect 15kg of cocaine worth £615,000 from Warrington in April 2020.

He also used his company as cover for collecting drugs and cash with officers seizing £15,020 from a vehicle driven by employee Hugh Goldie, 50, from Stanley, Co Durham, during the same month.

Goldie was later sentenced nine years and six months in jail for conspiracy to supply cocaine and acquiring / using / possessing criminal property.

Mitchell joined accomplice David Jeavons, 60, from Felton, Morpeth, to purchase a proportion of 42 kilos of cocaine with a street value of £3.36m which was smuggled to the UK from the Netherlands by William McChesney, 35, from Banbridge, County Down, in Northern Ireland.

The offenders operated on EncroChat, the encrypted communications platform which was taken down by international law enforcement in June 2020, with Mitchell using the handle ‘nova-train’.

He was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to supply cocaine at Newcastle Crown Court at previous hearings. Yesterday (7 May), at the same court, he was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

McChesney, who used the handle ‘solidzebra’, was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment on Friday 12 December last year. Jeavons, known as ‘slickpearl, was jailed for 10 years and eight months in September.

The offenders also conspired with David Bowen, 53, from Mitcham in London.

Bowen, whose handle was ‘discocockney’, facilitated the importation and sourced customers for the drugs. Mitchell asked him detailed questions about costs, loading and the best routes to move the Class A drugs.

At one point the group realised 10 kilos of their cocaine had gone missing and identified a man in Fenham, Newcastle upon Tyne, who they believed had stolen it.

There were messages about "grabbing him" and an Osman warning - where police inform someone their life is in danger - was issued to the man.

In July 2020, Jeavons and Mitchell met with another criminal associate at the M62 Ferrybridge Services, near Knottingley in West Yorkshire, where they had a heated discussion about how to handle the situation.

The NCA investigation was assisted by the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU).

NCA branch commander Martin Clarke said:

“Guy Mitchell played a crucial role in this plot, using his knowledge of the haulage industry to help collect and distribute these dangerous class A drugs to criminal contacts, as well as moving cash.

“Cocaine causes immeasurable harm to communities across the UK, undermining the fabric of society.

“It is unlikely this ever occurred to Mitchell, whose only motivation was financial gain when the UK was at the height of the Covid 19 lockdown.

“With partners like the NEROCU we will continue to work at home and abroad to tackle the organised crime groups behind this despicable trade.”

NEROCU Detective Inspector Simon Drenon said:

“This has been a fantastic display of partnership working. It highlighted the robust resources at our disposal when tackling organised drug crime.

“Mitchell thought he could use his knowledge to evade the consequences of his criminal actions and he was swiftly proved wrong.

“Work just like this will continue and we’ll pursue suspects causing harm in our communities.”