'Family man' took over brother's Encro phone as he lay low after arrest

A "family man" took over his brother's EncroChat phone as he sought to lay low after being arrested.

Stefon and Mark Beeby were ensnared as part of a National Crime Agency investigation into a multi-million pound Merseyside-based drugs gang which operated an amphetamine lab in North Wales. Members of the organised crime group have now been locked up for more than 200 years.

Liverpool Crown Court heard this afternoon, Friday, that Mark Beeby "became involved through his older brother" Stefon and travelled from his home in West Yorkshire to the drugs factory at Wood Farm in Sealand, Chester, on two occasions in April 2020 to "either deliver equipment or some other commodity required or to assist with maintenance issues". The 46-year-old, of the Meadows in Huddersfield, then "became more actively involved" in the illicit business following his sibling's arrest in late May.

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Nicola Daley, prosecuting, described how he took control of his EncroChat account, under the handle "ParkPlum", at this stage and would go on to travel to Merseyside "on multiple occasions". This included a visit in his daughter's Audi on June 6 in order to hand over £14,000 in cash and collect a quantity of amphetamine oil.

Beeby was also tasked with collecting money from Glasgow on another date before delivering it to co-conspirator Darren Owens in Liverpool then returning over the Pennines. The dad-of-three was said to have been "known to and trusted by" others involved in the operation and "discussed the movement of materials, cash, equipment and amphetamine oil" with them.

Stephen Spence, defending, told the court: "It is quite clear here that whoever takes over that Encro phone from Stefon Beeby is not setting themselves up as part of the management or someone who makes the decisions. They are doing as directed by Stefon, who is quite clearly trying to keep himself at a distance.

"His functions here are relatively limited. They are making arrangements for pick ups or drop offs, then driving the vehicle.

"He is effectively a delivery driver. He is not management.

"It is quite clear that the defendant was drawn into this out of family loyalty to his brother, succumbing to requests from Stefon. This is a man who got involved with something way beyond his knowledge or the ordinary type of operation he would be involved in due to family loyalty and wanting to help his brother out.

"There is some reference to himself, when younger, having had mental health issues. He is somebody who, in the circumstances, has a degree of vulnerability - which is why Stefon was able to exploit him and to rely upon him, knowing that Mark would help him out.

"He is somebody who is a family man. There are 17 siblings, I think.

"He is a family man who, after serving in the army, met his wife. They have been together for 25 years and lived a pretty ordinary but productive life.

"He is a hard worker. I ask your honour to take into account his effective good character and the sort of man he ordinarily is.

"I ask your honour to give him hope for the future and to allow him to be out in a reasonable period of time in order to continue to provide for his wife and children. Deep down, that is the sort of man he is."

Beeby, who has two previous convictions for unrelated offences in the 1990s, was found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to supply amphetamine by a jury following a trial. He was jailed for 10-and-a-half years and gave a thumbs up to the public gallery, where one of his supporters sat in tears, as he was led down to the cells.

Sentencing, Judge Denis Watson KC said: "This particular case concerns a quite large number of people, of whom you are one, who were manufacturing and supplying vast quantities of class A and B drugs. The manufacture was on a large, commercial scale and involved complex processes and specialist apparatus.

"It required patience, skill, determination, hard work and sourcing and obtaining specialist chemicals. It was a long process and a hazardous one.

"None of those involved in the manufacture were trained chemists, but the rewards were sufficient for those involved to overcome their absence of training so that high quality, injectable amphetamine was then distributed all over England.

"Drug supply offences are offences of significant gravity. The addiction to hard drugs results in degradation and human misery for those who take drugs, for their families and for the wider community.

"So much crime flows from drug supply. Unfortunately, your family joins the list of those affected by criminality.

"You were willing to help with jobs as and when needed. Your brother tried to distance himself from involvement with the operation.

"He enlisted you and he gave you control of that Encro phone. You were not so much drawn in as you were willing to step into the role he had worked."

Previous trials heard that the gang shipped large quantities of injectable amphetamines across England, Scotland and Wales as part of a multi-million pound scheme. The gang was also involved in trafficking cocaine, heroin and ketamine.

Two of its ringleaders meanwhile made attempts to source weapons in the months before their downfall. Their huge drug production operation was initially discovered after the encrypted communications platform was infiltrated by the French police during the spring of 2020.

The National Crime Agency then discovered a series of messages alluding to a laboratory on the outskirts of Chester being used to produce amphetamine. Officers from Merseyside Police and North Wales Police later discovered this factory on Deeside Lane in the Sealand area of the city.

But the site was "abruptly closed down" when its operators realised that they were under surveillance. Undeterred, the OCG continued its attempts to produce amphetamine at a storage unit in an Aintree industrial site known as the Box Works.

Communications detailed arrangements for the supply of a total of 71 litres of amphetamine oil and between 780kg and 1,000kg of amphetamine sulphate paste. The outfit supplied customers as far afield as Dundee, Glasgow, Neath and Newcastle.

Anthony Saunderson, Paul Mount and Owens were said to have been the gang's top men, with the former having used handles named after Breaking Bad character Jesse Pinkman and Sopranos actor James Gandolfini. Others sometimes worked for more than 10 hours a day to manufacture the drugs.

Ten men were previously imprisoned during 2022 in connection with the NCA probe. Forty-two-year-old Saunderson, from Formby, was jailed for 35 years and 38-year-old Mount, of Halsall in West Lancashire, received 34 years.

Owens, aged 48 and from Huyton, was handed 24 years. Thirty-two-year-old Kieran Hartley, of Knotty Ash, was given 23 years, 42-year-old Stefon Beeby - from Halifax, West Yorkshire - was jailed for 15-and-a-half years and 33-year-old Lee Eccles, of Maghull, was locked up for eight years and nine months.

Stephen Shearwood, 38 and also from Maghull, was jailed for 14 years and four months. Forty-four-year-old David Kelly, of Ormskirk, was handed 15 years and three months.

Michael Pope, aged 35 and of Maghull, was given 17-and-a-half years. Twenty-nine-year-old Connor Smith, from Maghull, was jailed for seven years and 11 months.

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