Drugs trafficker Nico Easton holds head in hands as he's caged with cronies for total of 47 years

A notorious Teesside drug dealer bought £18,000 of heroin to sell on his home turf.

Nico Easton, 31, also tried to buy a handgun from Newcastle men Robert English and Mark McKeswick. The three men have now been jailed at Teesside Crown Court, for more than 47 years.

Easton, whose girlfriend testified in court, held his head in his hands, as he was handed a sentence of 15 years and six months. Mark McKeswick, who cut the heroin and added bulking agents in the "drugs depot" at his Muswell Hill home, was jailed for 13 years and three months.

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Robert English was the mastermind of the operation who ran a gardening supplies business in Northumberland, whilst searching for a handgun with a silencer for Easton. He was locked up for 18 years and eight months.

The conspiracy was uncovered after French police cracked an encrypted messaging platform used by the drugs ring. None of the "encro devices" have ever been found, but EncroChat notified its customers that their security had been compromised, after the hack in 2020.

It's thought that the men got rid of their phones. All three men were convicted of conspiracy to supply a class A drug and conspiracy to acquire a firearm without a certificate, by a jury after a trial, in September, at Teesside Crown Court.

English was also convicted of the possession of criminal property; he failed to turn up to the trial during the last week, and he was later arrested and pleaded guilty to failing to surrender to custody.

In addition to the drugs and firearms offences, McKeswick was convicted of the possession of criminal property; being concerned in the production of heroin; and the possession of heroin and amphetamine, with intent to supply.

On Tuesday, the men appeared in court on video links from prison. Easton bought the £18,000 of heroin during lockdown and under the username "Dior Metal" he fretted about collecting the drugs from Newcastle by car, in case his driver was stopped by the police, at a time when people were only allowed to travel to the supermarket or to medical appointments.

He complained about the quality of the drugs that McKeswick had cut and packaged, prompting English to message under his encro chat name, "The Saudi" that he had supplied 10 others with the same batch, and Easton was the only one to complain.

Easton then tried to buy a handgun and English used his contacts to act as a broker in the sale. The men posted a picture of a gun for sale on encrochat, but Easton dismissed it as being "s***" and English continued his search.

Easton's girlfriend, Kirby Jay Cann, stood in the witness box during sentencing, to say that her partner "was a different man" after he was released from a previous sentence, for being concerned in the supply of cocaine.

Mitigating for English, Jeremy Barton said that his client was "scared for his life and for his family's life" whilst he was on trial, and when he failed to turn up to court. "He has since received death threats whilst on remand, from others in Strangeways prison," Mr Barton said. "He owes a significant amount of money for drugs, he was not at the absolute top."

The married dad-of-three ran a successful gardening supplies business from Eachwick in Northumberland, before he was arrested after Interpol handed over the UK arm of the recovered Encrochat messages.

English signed his business over to his wife; and prosecutors are now pursuing a proceeds of crime application.

McKeswick was found to be English's "trusted lieutenant" in the drugs operation and his barrister Chris Knox said that he "did what he was told" after succumbing to drugs himself. Mr Knox said that McKeswick did not "have significant means or lifestyle" and he wasn't even the named tenant of his rented Newcastle home.

Judge Chris Smith told the three that they had been "foolish" to miss out on discounted sentences given for guilty pleas; and that they had stood trial "despite the overwhelming evidence" against them.

"Each of you was attracted to the large amount of money you could make selling diamorphine, at an industrial scale" the judge told them, "but that money comes at a cost - the misery of others."

He continued: "You, Robert English, ran the enterprise and you staffed it with others, including McKeswick. It involved multiple kilos of diamorphine. Your position, Easton, is a little different. You were purchasing on an industrial scale. By 2022, you had an entrenched involvement in serious drug trafficking.”

Easton, of Lowfields Walk in Ingleby Barwick, was clearly taken aback by the length of his prison sentence. English, of Woodlands, Throckley in Newcastle, did not react.

McKeswick, of Hawthorn Close in Muswell Hill, Newcastle, stood up and said "Oh f***" and walked out of the prison video room.

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