A drugs boss and his money laundering partner have been ordered to pay back £25k after splashing their ill-gotten cash on a luxury holiday in Thailand. Christopher Williams, 32, made more than £100,000 leading a gang selling heroin and crack on the streets of Barrow-in-Furness, a court heard.
His girlfriend Lauren Callister, 26, made £4,638 helping him launder his dirty cash.
Williams and Callister, who laundered around £15,000 of dirty cash for Williams via her bank account, flew on holidays to Thailand to soak up the sun in a luxury villa. And while members of Williams' gang flooded the Cumbrian streets with drugs, Callister was sharing snaps of her posing in a bikini on a boat trip with her drug dealer boyfriend at Pileh Lagoon. It was, she said, the 'best place iv ever stayed'.
Back on home soil, Williams' footsoldiers travelled between Merseyside and Barrow, recruiting a network of people to keep the operation afloat. Between November 1, 2019 and June 23, 2020 more than 7,000 text messages were sent through a designated phone line to 200 drug users in Barrow.
But the couple's high life was fleeting. Following an investigation, police identified the source of the messages and Williams was arrested on suspicion of conpsiracy to supply heroin and crack. In November 2021, the gang leader, of Douglas Close, Old Swan, Liverpool, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years at Preston Crown Court. He admitted roping Callister, originally from Carlisle, into the drugs plot, which spared her a prison sentence.
Callister was originally charged with being involved in the same heroin and crack cocaine conspiracies, but was cleared of these charges. However she admitted converting criminal property and walked free from court after being handed a two-year community order with a 50-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement and 80 hours of unpaid work.
At a Proceeds of Crime Hearing on Friday July 14 2022, Judge Simon Medland QC said Williams made a total of £102,089.82 from the conspiracy. However the defendant only had £19, 589.23 in available assets to repay his debt to society.
The judge ordered him to hand over all the money available to him - which is currently being held by the police. Callister profited by £4,638.70 and was ordered to repay the lot.
Speaking after the gang was jailed for more than 40 years, a spokesman for Cumbria's South Community Serious and Organised Crime Team said it was working alongside Merseyside Police to target County Lines drug dealers.
He said: "The Drugs Unit has an outstanding record of disrupting and convicting organised crime groups who set up in the area in an attempt to prey on vulnerable people for profit.
"The team works closely with colleagues in Merseyside to crack down on these individuals. We will continue to relentlessly pursue those involved in serious and organised crime, arrest them and bring them before the courts for sentencing."
READ NEXT:
