A drugs baron who led a luxury lifestyle before fleeing across Europe in his Bentley Continental as his criminal empire collapsed has been jailed for 25 years.

John Clark was the ‘head of a drug dealing enterprise’ supplying drugs around Bury and ran the operation from his luxury properties in Spain and other parts of Europe.

Clark ‘enjoyed a very high level of luxury’ with ‘beautiful homes, designer clothes and expensive cars’, Bolton Crown Court heard.

The scale of the drugs empire stretched from Scotland to Merseyside, London and Lincolnshire and involved the importation of vast amounts of cocaine, heroin and amphetamines from the continent.

The 36-year-old travelled to Morocco through France and Tenerife after operations by the Greater Manchester Police Serious Organised Crime Group and National Crime Agency closed in on the Clark-led gang.

He was arrested four months after a warrant was issued and then spent 10 months in a Moroccan prison before being extradited back to the UK.

Father-of-two Clark, of Edgeside Lane, Waterfoot, Rossendale, pleaded guilty to money laundering and eight counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

He was jailed for a total of 25 years and banned from travelling abroad for 10 years upon release.

Sentencing, Judge Timothy Clayson said: “You were the head of this drug-dealing enterprise. You played a leading role and were responsible for the activities within it.

“You enjoyed a very high level of luxury in your life with beautiful houses, rental properties, dressing in designer clothes and owning expensive cars.

“The organisation was highly professional with regular dumping of mobile phones shortly after any successful police seizures. But that didn’t slow down or stop your illegal activities.

“The group had important connections oversees to organisations of a similar kind and you travelled abroad and were in frequent contact with those involved.

“There are no evidence of weapons having any part in your offending. You spent 10 months in prison in Morocco in very bad conditions but that consequence is entirely your own fault.”

John Clark drug empire gallery

Clarke’s first encounter with police was in May 2012 when his ‘rather magnificent’ £1.2 million Waterfoot farm home was raided as part of an National Crime Agency probe into members of a Birmingham-based money laundering gang who had been transferring money overseas for Clark and other UK drug traffickers.

Emma Whaites, prosecuting, previously told the court how they discovered a notebook which was a ‘coded document’ monitoring numerous financial transactions and payment of debts from monies generated by the sale of drugs.

It also contained a record of money movements totalling more than £1.3m with nearly £700,000 being accrued in just five days.

Judge Clayson said the ledger recorded details of handling and transferring very large amounts of money and the ‘overwhelming majority of transactions refer to monies moving through your hands from class-A drug dealing’.

Miss Whaites said Clark was the ‘overall head of the entire operation’ and controlled others under his command ‘at a distance’ who in turn controlled other ‘trusted middle-men and facilitators’.

Drugs were imported from the continent and in just one shipment in December 2012 around 25kg of cocaine was transported from Holland to North Wales worth a street value of £7m.

The court heard how Clark also oversaw a deal involving £500,000 of amphetamines in the Bury area.

A search warrant was also executed at a house in Ramsbottom in January 2013 where just under £2m of heroin and £914,000 worth of amphetamines were recovered.

In the same month officers also intercepted a car travelling to Liverpool with 10kg of heroin worth around £1m.

Detectives also later found a financial ‘ledger’ recording cash deposits and illegal transactions between March 2012 and January 2013 totalling around £11.25m.

Clark was due to appear for trial at Birmingham Crown Court in April this year however when he failed to attend an earlier hearing a warrant was issued for his arrest in February.

Miss Whaites told the court how Clark had left the country in January and was later arrested in Morocco after an international search warrant was issued ‘having made no attempt to surrender to the authorities.’

She said it was a ‘long drawn out procedure to trace and locate him’ and involved nearly 500 man hours.

The court heard how in December 2009 Clark bought a £65,000 Range Rover Sport paying £22,000 in cash and in March 2012 bought an Audi RS3 worth £44,000.

The next month he bought a £120,000 Audi R8 Spyder and then part exchanged a Mercedes vehicle paying £115,000 in cash and bank transfers.

Hugh Barton, defending, previously told the court how Clark lived in ‘appalling conditions’ in a Moroccan jail and shared a cell with up to 60 other inmates.

Speaking after the sentencing hearing, Detective Inspector Lee Griffin, of GMP’s Serious Organised Crime Group, said: “Clark sat at the head of a sophisticated, well-connected network of drugs dealers, the tentacles of which reached across the UK and into mainland Europe.

“Most of the gang enjoyed the trappings of wealth that most hard-working people can only imagine, but they would have known from the start that even the biggest empires can crumble.

“The scale of their operation makes for truly alarming reading – £11m worth of deals in just nine months, a number of properties across Europe and the types of cars associated with international playboys.

“However, all of this was built on selling harmful, illegal drugs on the streets of the UK. The corroding effects of class-A drugs on families, communities and the wider society are well documented, and each and every one of these people knew it.

“I hope today’s result, which is the culmination of excellent joint working between ourselves and the NCA, sends out a significant message to anyone involved in supplying drugs. No matter how sophisticated you think you are, justice will always catch up with you in the end.”

Superintendent Karan Lee, based at Bury, said: “On behalf of the communities and partnerships in Bury, I applaud today’s judgements.

“We will continue to work together to eradicate Organised Crime groups and rid our town of those that wish to benefit from preying on decent and law abiding citizens.”

Jim Cook, lead investigator for the National Crime Agency, said: “Drug traffickers need to launder their profits but doing it can be their Achilles heel. By getting between them and their money they are unable to fund their lifestyles or invest in further drug deals.

“After we seized his drug money Clark realised the law enforcement net was tightening. He went on the run but we were able to track him down and return him to the UK to face justice.

“Clark’s lavish lifestyle is over. Not only has he been deprived off his freedom, he now faces losing his criminal assets. We have restrained nine properties so far including his luxury multi-million pound family home. Our financial investigation is ongoing.”

Eight other people involved in the gang have already been jailed for a total of 88 years and two months.

Malcolm Tidyman, aged 35, of Tunstall Close, Bury, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply drugs and other drug related offences and was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment

David Green, aged 44, of Derby Court, Bury, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply drugs and various other drugs related offences and was sentenced to 13 years four months.

Brian Fletcher, aged 33, of Denton Street, Bury, was convicted of conspiracy to supply drugs following a trial and sentenced to 16 years.

Andrew Hodson, aged 42, of Marsh House Lane, Darwen pleaded guilty to a number of offences in relation to the supply of drugs and was sentenced to 13 years, six months.

Philippe Theodoor De-Gest, aged 31 of Molenstraat, Hoeselt, Belgium pleaded guilty to the importation of 25 kilos of cocaine and was sentenced to nine years

Phillip Randles, aged 50, of Brandearth Hey, Liverpool pleaded guilty to possession of heroin with intent to supply and was sentenced to seven years.

Melanie Humphries, aged 42, of Orchid Drive, Bury, was convicted of a number of drug offences following a trial and sentenced to nine years.

James Hawthorn, aged 37, of West Whitby Street, Glasgow. pleaded guilty to possession of 50 kilos of amphetamine and was sentenced to four years and four months.

SOURCE: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/drugs-baron-who-lived-life-8028589

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