Drug dealer brother of ex-footballer loses appeal

Jonathan Cassidy's lawyers claimed the sentencing judge gave him insufficient credit for his guilty pleas

A gang member who had a "leading role" in an international drugs plot involving his brother, a former Liverpool football prodigy, has lost an appeal against his prison sentence.

Jonathan Cassidy was part of a drugs gang, along with his brother Jamie, which saw cocaine imported from the Netherlands and used to supply users across north-west England, Birmingham and Leeds.

The younger Cassidy brother had played alongside Michael Owen and Jamie Carragher in the Reds youth team before injuries curtailed his career.

Jonathan was jailed 21 years and nine months alongside his brother last year. An appeal hearing in London to challenge his sentence was dismissed.

Former Liverpool youth player Jamie Cassidy was "drawn in" to crime by brother, a court heard

Manchester Crown Court heard last year the operation dealt with 356kg of the drug, worth around £26m, with £10m in cash changing hands in the space of three months.

Prosecutors told the court Jonathan likened himself to the infamous drug smuggler El Chapo.

He sent an associate a picture of an actor playing the Mexican drug lord in the TV programme Narcos and joked how they shared the same birthday.

Jonathan admitted importing drugs, conspiring to supply drugs and conspiring to transfer criminal property.

At an appeal hearing in London last month, his lawyers claimed the sentencing judge gave him insufficient credit for his guilty pleas and that not enough weight was given to mitigating factors.

But in a ruling published on Monday, three senior judges dismissed the challenge.

Nasar Ahmed and Jonathan Cassidy were each jailed for 21 years and nine months

Lord Justice Fraser, sitting with Mr Justice Hilliard and Mr Justice Constable, said that they were "not persuaded" the sentence was "manifestly excessive or reached after an error of principle".

They also dismissed an appeal bid brought by Jonathan's co-defendant, Nasar Ahmed, who admitted the same offences and received the same jail term.

Prosecutor Richard Wright KC told Manchester Crown Court last year that Jonathan played a "leading role" in drugs importation and the buying and selling of class A drugs while Ahmed acted as a middleman and "facilitator".

One associate was arrested in a car in Liverpool, where police found two Asda bags for life containing almost £250,000.

After the encrypted EncroChat network used by Jonathan and Ahmed was infiltrated by law enforcement agencies, Jonathan travelled to Dubai in July 2020 and inquired with estate agents about purchasing a villa with a budget of £2.3m, including a £22,000 bed.

He travelled back to the UK in October that year, but was arrested on his return.

Dismissing Jonathan and Ahmed's appeals, Lord Justice Fraser said that both knew "what their conduct had been and the degree to which it was unlawful".

He continued that despite defendants in other EncroChat cases being given greater credit for guilty pleas, there was "no one single EncroChat discount" that should be applied.