'SoupHedge' joked about EncroChat hack and now has to pay back £300k

An EncroChat dealer who joked about the tech hack that would later bring about his downfall has been ordered to pay back nearly £300,000. Bradley Luxton, who used two different handles - 'SoupHedge' and 'MerrySword' - laughed with a fellow drug dealer that they would have to find an alternative to EncroChat after receiving a notification the encrypted messaging platform had been hacked.

Luxton, who had 64 contacts and had been in regular contact with over half of them, was arrested the following year when police raided his home and exposed his multi-kilo cocaine business. Luxton later told officers he "remained in the game" after £380,000 worth of drugs were stolen and he had to repay the debt.

However, that extra time in "the game" proved to be his downfall and he was convicted and jailed for 16 years in August 2021. Merseyside Police's economic crime unit has now confirmed officers have gone after Luxton's assets. A confiscation order was made against Luxton at Liverpool Crown Court last week, revealing the now 37-year-old was found to have benefited from his criminality to the value of £1,363,216.88.

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Luxton was ordered to pay back £289,987,33. Detective Chief Inspector Mike Dalton said: "I hope his incarceration and this additional punishment will send a clear message that crime does not pay, and we are committed to stopping those who try to profit from the sale of illegal drugs."

During Luxton's sentencing in 2021, prosecutor Simon Parry told the court he kept the handle 'SoupHedge' between March and May 2020 and the handle 'MerrySword' between June 5 and 13 of the same year. He said Luxton had 64 contacts, and was in contact with 33 of them, speaking to 15 about criminal activity.

Mr Parry said Luxton had "joked" in messages in June 2020 after receiving an alert from a contact that the EncroChat platform had been hacked. He said: "He received an alert from titch.com who was using the Sky platform." Mr Parry said: "Bradley Luxton on receiving the security information goes on to joke 'They're going to need loads of Skys, people should transfer onto Wickr or get themselves Sky'".

He went on to talk about how "EncroChat and Sky had been battling against each other for years" and said he was going to "order some Skys from somebody called 'The Geek'". On March 25 2021 police attended his home in Birch Avenue, Upton, where he was arrested and police seized designer clothing.

Both EncroChat devices were also seized as well as detailed financial ledgers which "kept his drug dealing accounts" in "meticulous financial detail". Police discovered Luxton dealt drugs across the UK including to Bournemouth, Leeds, Stoke, Cornwall, Sheffield, Watford, Bournemouth, Chester and Tyneside.

The court heard he had "ploughed" money from his drug dealing business into renovating his Wirral home. Luxton has 34 previous convictions for eight offences between 2006 and 2010 including possession with intent to supply cocaine in 2008 for which he was handed a suspended sentence.

Luxton admitted conspiracy to supply 31 kilos of cocaine, 200 tablets of MDMA, 14 grams of ketamine, 51 kilos of cannabis and four kilos of heroin. He also admitted conspiracy to convert criminal property.

His Honour Judge David Aubrey, sentencing, said: "You have contributed to the degradation and human misery that drugs cause to those that take them, their families and the wider community affected by the crimes by those that become addicted to them." Luxton's defence benefited from letters from both his mum and ex-partner, but Judge Aubrey told him he was driven by greed and "your family will also suffer from your criminality".

Speaking after the confiscation order was made last week, DCI Dalton, from Merseyside Police's economic crime unit, said: "This outcome shows that our work in retrieving the proceeds of serious and organised crime does not stop when criminals are sent to prison. Convicted criminals should pay every price for using criminal money to fund their lifestyle, and for the damage they cause to our communities.

"Our financial investigators meticulously work in securing as much as possible in criminal assets and should Luxton not repay the amount, he will serve extra jail time. I hope his incarceration and this additional punishment will send a clear message that crime does not pay, and we are committed to stopping those who try to profit from the sale of illegal drugs.

"Despite the increasing number of people sentenced for these crimes across Merseyside our work still continues along with law enforcement agencies across the world, to pursue anyone who tries to forge a lifestyle that destroys lives and families. The proceeds recovered at court will be of great benefit when invested back into community initiatives to help prevent crime and protect the most vulnerable. We will keep publicising these initiatives too, so local organisations can get involved and see that ill-gotten gains are returned to good people."