An EncroChat crook linked to Spanish villas, ruthless gun thugs and kilos of Class A drugs boasted of making up to £10,000 per day.
Huyton drug dealer Jack Wymer, 29, and his underworld contacts were brought down by a major Cheshire Police operation dubbed Operation Thunderball, into criminals using the encrypted phone network to trade in drugs and firearms.
Detectives found he was the man behind the EncroChat handle 'ItchyTrain', which revealed him to be a high-end dealer selling commercial quantities of cannabis, heroin and cocaine. Messages uncovered from his phone included photos of a kilo block of heroin, wads of cash spread out over a kitchen counter and the burned out remains of a Spanish villa, used to grow cannabis.
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Liverpool Crown Court heard how this appears to have followed a blaze started after the electricity meter had been bridged to operate the illicit cannabis factory. Wymer had even Googled whether "growing weed in Spain" could lead to prison sentences.
Judge David Potter, sentencing Wymer after a drawn-out court process involving lengthy delays, said today: "Drug dealing causes devastation to individuals and society generally. When vulnerable drug users are ravaged by addiction, drug users commit offences to fund their habits and society must pick up the pieces."
Owen Edwards, KC, prosecuting, revealed how, in message to a fellow dealer using the handle 'RubberJay' sent in April 2020, Wymer boasted he did "10k yesterday on just weed small and ozs". A few days later, he told a user called 'RadioBaker' he was doing "7 to 10k a day on pollys (cannabis)".
The defendant later discussed the sale of cannabis with a user called 'WeirdGun', and gave out the postcode to his home address in Brookwood Road, Huyton. But the court heard Wymer was also involved in high level drug deals for Class A drugs, including heroin and cocaine.
Mr Edwards said further messages, to an EncroChat user called TimelyBet, revealed he was paying £17,500 for "tops", a reference to kilo amounts of high purity heroin, and included pictures of the drugs and cash in Wymer's kitchen. Detectives later compared the kitchen worksurface in his home to the one glimpsed in the photos, adding to the weight of evidence against him.
In his extensive network of contacts, Wymer was found to have links to a group of criminals involved in a spate of terrifying shootings, including an incident where a man called David Barnes was shot in the legs at the door of his home in Poplars Avenue, Warrington, by a gunman posing as a pizza delivery driver.
The shooter, Aaron Bretherton, had been paid to carry out the hit by Norris Green based "fixer" Lewis Fitzpatrick, but the hit was bungled because the intended target, Mr Barnes' stepson Liam Byrne jnr, was not home. Fitzpatrick had organised the hit alongside powerful drug boss brothers Alan and John Tobin.
Fitzpatrick was identified as the man behind the EncroChat handle 'LimeEagle', and he was in regular contact with Wymer using their EncroChat devices. In April 2020, the pair discussed the sale of kilo quantities of ketamine and Fitzpatrick sent Wymer a "shopping list" of firearms.
In a Newton Hearing last week, a form of mini-trial where a judge rules on contested issues that may affect the length of a sentence after a defendant has pleaded guilty, the court heard police were unable to find evidence that the pair had actually agreed the exchange of firearms. However, when his address was raided on July 23, 2020, police found three "viable" rounds of .44 calibre ammunition.
Police also raided his parents' home address on the same street, and found "precursor" chemicals for the production of MDMA and amphetamines stashed behind a kickboard in the kitchen, although the court heard the chemicals had not been turned into drugs and it did not appear Wymer had the knowledge of how to do so.
Mr Edwards said £35,000 in English and Scottish notes was recovered at the house along with tick lists and evidence of dog breeding. Wymer answered no comment in his interviews but provided a prepared statement taking full responsibility for the drugs found in his home and in his parents' house.
The court heard that Wymer had a few previous convictions for possessing drugs, but none for supply. The court heard that initially the case was delayed due to legal proceedings around EncroChat evidence, and because Wymer initially pleaded not guilty to some of the more serious offences, before deciding to come clean and plead guilty.
He admitted conspiracy to supply heroin, cocaine, ketamine and cannabis, and being concerned in the production of MDMA and amphetamines. He also pleaded guilty to possessing ammunition without a certificate.
Julian Nutter, defending, said his client had endured "mental torture" during the lockdown period in prison, and had his mum had suffered significant mental health problems which he was unable to help with.
Judge Potter concluded there was not enough evidence to sentence Wymer for being involved in more than the supply of a kilo and a half of cocaine and one kilo of heroin, as pictured in the EncroChat messages.
Wymer was jailed for 10 years for the drugs matters, plus an additional three months in prison for the ammunition charge. He smiled and waved to his family as he left the dock.
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