An MMA champion cage fighter who went on the run ahead of his drugs trial will now face a proceeds of crime investigation that aims to seize any illegal profits made.
Darren Towler, 41, was sentenced to 24 years in prison in November 2022 after a jury found him guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine and amphetamine in his absence, TeessideLive reports.
Towler headed up an organised crime ring that flooded the North East with millions of pounds of import-strength cocaine, couriered in from the North West. Towler, alongside Merseyside drugs boss, Ricky Hemmings, 40, oversaw the supply of amphetamine and cannabis over the Pennines.
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Teesside Crown Court previously heard that Darren Towler recruited contacts he had made in prison, whilst he was serving an earlier sentence for the supply of drugs. He used encrypted phones to communicate with Ricky Hemmings, in an operation that saw huge bundles of cash totaling £1m, being sent to Merseyside in payment for the drugs.
Police put the group under surveillance in 2017 and followed ten journeys back and forth within five months. Their investigations showed there were multiple kilos of drugs exchanged for hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Towler's sister and his then-girlfriend were also part of the drugs ring. Anita Towler, 43, from Consett, was jailed for two years and eight months.
Towler's former girlfriend, Jodie Smith, 42, of Consett, was jailed for six years and six months. His half-brother, Jonathan Kitson, 28, of Great Lumley, in Durham, was jailed for nine years and eleven months.
Gang member Steven Ruddick, of Bishop Auckland, killed himself in prison last month. Other gang members who now face a proceeds of crime investigation are Ricky Hemmings; Daniel Mappin of Tudhoe, in Durham; and Craig Field, from Consett.
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