Drug boss says he's skint and owes rival £220,000 after stash house raid

A drug dealer who took possession of 13kg of cocaine stolen from a Huyton Firm stash house told a confiscation hearing he's skint and in debt to a rival. Manchester drug boss Leon 'Aki' Atkinson, 47, was jailed for 15 years in 2022 after he was unmasked as a "regional supplier" for a gang smuggling huge amounts of cocaine into the UK.

Atkinson used the handles "CarrotHorn" and "MaidenBear" on the encrypted messaging platform EncroChat. Appearing before Manchester's top judge last week, he tried to blag that he was in debt and made no profit from his admitted drug dealer. He sold drugs imported into the UK and was behind the supply of at least 28kg of cocaine.

He took on 13kg of the class A drug after it was stolen in an audacious armed robbery at the Huyton Firm's West Derby stash house on May 23 2020. Atkinson took on nearly half of the stolen 30kg haul after a courier for the Cox family - a well known Salford crime group behind the audacious attack - contacted the east Manchester dealer and arranged a meet near Manchester City's football ground.

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The Cox family's robbery, in partnership with Liverpool criminal Richard Caswell, was a staggering attack against the Huyton Firm - a well-established and dangerous crime group who had controlled much of Merseyside's drug trade for three decades. It proved to be the catalyst for the downfall of the group, who were led by Stockbridge Village gangster Vincent Coggins.

Following the robbery, Coggins and his associates - including child killer Thomas Cashman - attempted to track down those responsible. However, their every move was being tracked by law enforcement after EncroChat had been hacked by European authorities.

The North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU) stepped in and arrest Coggins and nearly a dozen of his closest associates when they saw the gang planned to kill those they believed were behind the robbery. However, Coggins had the wrong people and for a while the Coxes, led by brother Jason, and Caswell went undetected.

However, they too were undone by the hacking of EncroChat and, despite attempting to flee to Spain, the Cox brothers and Caswell were sentenced to significant terms in prison. But the threat of what they did has remained, with Jason Cox's lawyer telling the court his client would have to "look over his shoulder" for what he did. The ECHO also previously reported how Caswell was slashed in prison.

Like his enemies and business associates, Atkinson was also brought down following the penetration of the EncroChat phone network. He was sentenced after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply drugs at Manchester Crown Court in May 2022.

Atkinson, who is serving his sentence at Buckley Hall prison in Rochdale, appeared back before the same court last week, where the Recorder of Manchester Judge Nicholas Dean KC dismissed his claims he earned no profit from his admitted dealing.

The MEN reported how Atkinson claimed in 2018 he had to sell his house to pay off a £68,000 confiscation order after he had been convicted of mortgage fraud and tax evasion, and had been forced to move his family into rented accommodation.

He said he had submitted bank account details for himself and his children and claimed he had "no assets" apart from the £420 found in his pockets when he was arrested for cocaine supply racket. Atkinson told the judge that, in fact, he owed a £220,000 drugs debt, saying: "I have vouched for a so-called friend basically saying he's a good person. He didn't pay the debt so that debt became my debt."

Questioned by his own barrister Brett Weaver, he said police had handed him 'threat-to-life' warnings while he was behind bars which he said he believed was related to the alleged debt.

The defendant claimed he paid couriers to move drugs and cash for up to £3,000-a-time, that he incurred losses on drug deals and that had to shell out expenses such as £1,400 for an EncroChat mobile device for employees. He claimed he was only earning a 'wage' and that a Rolex seized by police was a £350 fake.

Cross-examined by Alex Langhorn for the prosecution, Atkinson denied messages dated long before the admitted cocaine supply conspiracy which landed him in jail suggested more money from other drug dealing. "If there was money, it would have been going to pay off the debt," he said.

Mr Langhorn suggested to the defendant he had hidden assets, and Atkinson said: "I don't understand where I have not been honest. Everything I have said has been honest."

Ruling against Atkinson at the hearing brought under the Proceeds of Crime Act, Judge Dean KC ruled the defendant's 'hidden assets', or profit from his drug dealing, was 'at the very least' £28,000, although the 'benefit figure', or the total amount earned through his admitted drug dealing, was estimated at more than £1.2m. Atkinson was told he had three months to pay £28,000 or face an extra nine months behind bars.

When Atkinson was arrested, officers found prison letters addressed to him from cop killer Dale Cregan. Cregan will die behind bars after being handed a whole life term for four murders, including police officers Pc Nicola Hughes, 23, and Pc Fiona Bone, 32.

He also murdered 23-year-old amateur boxer Mark Short at The Cotton Tree pub in Droylsden in May 2012, before murdering his victim's father, 46-year-old David Short, in a gun-and grenade attack at his home in Clayton three months later.

Prosecutors at Cregan's trial alleged he was acting on orders from Atkinson to exact revenge against the Short family, after one of them had 'disrespected' his mother. Atkinson denied any involvement and was acquitted.