A DRUG dealer has been convicted after being caught purchasing huge quantities of cocaine for onward supply during a National Crime Agency investigation.

William Skillen, from Orford, was part of a conspiracy responsible for supplying around a quarter of a million pounds of the class A drug.

The 35-year-old bought the cocaine from a Manchester-based gang who had plotted a violent robbery in which members would torture a businessman in his own home and cut one of his ears off.

A probe by the NCA captured covert recordings of 57-year-old Gary Betts telling associates that he had hatched plans for a ‘nice job’ that would earn conspirators ‘plenty of dough’.

Gerard Boyle, also 57, and brothers Chris and John Sammon – aged 32 and 35 respectively – were also involved in the scheme, as was 39-year-old Wayne Simmonds from Hertfordshire.

The organised crime group believed the target kept substantial amounts of cash at his home.

After bugging the gang’s base, police heard Betts say on one occasion: “His dad’s an old man and there’s only one kid in the house.

“You’ve got to give him a f***ing slap, you know what I mean?

“To tell you where the dough is.”

He also stated at one point: “I’d just walk in and I’ll just bang him and just tie him up and cut his ear off and then tell him, I’ve been down your area and cut people up.

“Believe me, I’ll blowtorch your balls and cut your ear off.

“Put it this way, I know an iron hurts in your chest.”

Cash and Encrochat phones were discovered during a dawn raid on Skillen’s home on Long Lane in June last year.

Warrington Guardian:

He was not involved in the robbery plot.

Skillen had previously admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and failing to comply with a serious crime prevention order during an earlier hearing.

This order was imposed after previous convictions for drug dealing offences in 2012 and 2017, the latter of which saw a heroin and cocaine racket operating an underground ‘Breaking Bad-style’ den – with a secret staircase to the cellar having been hidden by a fridge.

The remaining defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery at Manchester Crown Court today, Tuesday, following a seven-week trial.

They had also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine, with all six set to be sentenced before the same court later this month.

NCA operations manager Jon Sayers said: “These men were clearly very dangerous and stated that they were willing to carry out abhorrent acts of violence in pursuit of their aims.

“They used a business premises to freely talk about their drug dealing, where it became apparent that their links to the trade were very much serious and organised.

“With the support of the Metropolitan Police flying squad and Greater Manchester Police, the NCA was able to secure the men’s arrests and obtain the evidence that has led to today’s verdicts.

“Class A drugs are inextricably linked to violence and exploitation in local communities and the NCA, together with partners, uses all of its capability to disrupt the perpetrators and bring them to account.”