Man joined £53m drug ring to pay off gang - court

The men are being sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court

A man joined a £53m cocaine smuggling plot to make enough money to pay back another gang, a court heard.

Stephen Stockall, of Weaverham, Northwich, had previously been jailed for 16 years for attempting to smuggle drugs into the country.

The bust meant he fell into arrears with an organised crime gang and he began supplying cocaine to repay his perceived debt, his barrister said.

Stockall, 63, is one of 10 men due to be sentenced for conspiracy to supply cocaine at Carlisle Crown Court.

Mitigation has started in the sentencing hearing of gang members who were involved in the operation, which was described as "truly massive" in scale.

Nine of the men will be sentenced this week, with another hearing in April for the remaining defendant.

The drugs enterprise came to light after a kilo of cocaine was seized in February 2023 in Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria.

'Wrong choice'

During the hearing on Wednesday, Stockall's barrister told the court: "It is correct that Mr Stockall had never received a direct threat.

"But he was being directed to obey orders from an organised crime gang and he feared that if he did not obey, he - or more worryingly his family - would come to harm."

Barrister Gulam Ahmed, representing Andrew Stephens, 41, of Golborne, Wigan, told the hearing: "Since Covid, [Stephens] has been unable to find employment and sadly took up an offer to make easy money.

"This, sadly, was a wrong choice that he made."

A lawyer representing Reece Barnes, 31, from Bowness-on-Windermere, said he had operated lower down the criminal plot’s pecking order.

The hearing continues.