Some of Merseyside's more notorious criminals have now begun long prison sentences as a direct result the EncroChat phone network being smashed.
EncroChat, the encrypted phone network used by criminals, had long been a source of frustration for UK police.
When detectives managed to seize the handsets they were unable to access the messages, and many veteran crooks used a setting which deleted messages shortly after they were sent.
READ MORE: Struggling window cleaner became millionaire after joining EncroChat gang
However when the French Gendarmerie developed a software that could bypass the encryption, everything changed.
A warning message was sent out to users in June 2020, advising customers to turn off their phones and 'dispose' of the handsets.
But the advice was pointless because by that point police had collected the data they needed to make thousands of arrests.
Last year saw a procession of professional drug dealers from across the city jailed as a result of the EncroChat hack.
Several well known drug dealers from the Huyton and West Derby area all received long prison sentences.
Over recent weeks a number of well known Merseyside criminals have been handed prison sentences as a direct result of the EncroChat led operation.
Michael Brown
City centre bouncer Michael Brown hunted down and stabbed Colin McGinty to death in a Bootle backstreet.
Mr McGinty, mistaken for a notorious criminal, was on his way home to Crosby after a night out with friends in Bootle town centre.
Brown and his associate Gary Hampton were both jailed for life for murder.
However Liverpool Crown Court recently heard astonishing details of how Brown had changed his name on his release from prison to Michael Hoy.
Brown had then sourced an EncroChat phone which he used to sell drugs and act as a broker for gangland weapons.
Using the codename TimelyBeta, Hoy tried to broker deals for grenades and guns.
On April 12, 2020 Huyton criminal Patrick Murray sent Hoy a stock list featuring two AK47s, an Uzi and three Grand Power pistols.
Hoy was sentenced to life with a minimum of six years for the explosive and gun offences plus an additional 14 years for the drugs crimes, of which he will serve at least half.
Patrick Murray pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess explosives for an unlawful purpose, conspiracy to supply Class A drugs (cocaine), conspiracy to possess prohibited weapons and conspiracy to possess prohibited ammunition. He was sentenced to 16 years.
Philip Moran was found guilty after a trial of conspiring to possess prohibited weapons and ammunition; and to supply heroin, cocaine and cannabis. He was sentenced to 12 years.
Judge Robert Trevor-Jones, sentencing the men, said: “It states the obvious, perhaps, that they stand as the most dangerous and lethal weapons and can only be destined for use in the criminal community with potentially devastating results.”
The Moogans
Brothers Michael and Peter Moogan had appeared in Crimewatch in 2008 after police linked them to a firearms conspiracy.
The Huyton crooks were eventually tracked down in Spain and brought back to the UK to face justice.
The two Huyton men later admitted conspiracy to possess section 5 firearms and section 1 ammunition and were jailed for eight years each in 2009.
At the time Peter was 26 and Michael was 20.
Last month Liverpool Crown Court heard how the brothers made a return to serious crime after serving their sentences, and obtained an EncroChat phone which they used to buy and sell cocaine.
Crucially, the Moogans also shared pictures of their children, vehicles, homes and relevant postcodes on the phone.
And on April 1, 2020 - Peter’s 38th birthday - a number of happy birthday messages were received by their account.
The brothers, both from Huyton, were arrested in raids that led to the recovery of just over £26,000 found in a pillow case in Michael’s bedroom and £61,000 in a business park unit linked to Peter.
They admitted conspiracy to supply both drugs.
Both men were sentenced to a total of 11 years and three months in jail each.
The judge, Recorder Andrew McLoughlin, said: “You were well and truly involved in serious criminal offending behaviour.”
He added: “In my judgement, in this case both of you were clearly playing a leading role in this conspiracy.
“You were directing or organising the buying and selling on a commercial scale.”
Robert Brazendale
The former spark from Warrington has now begun a long prison sentence after he became embroiled in a plot to provide hardened criminals with high powered weapons.
Robert Brazendal e delivered an AK47 to one buyer, machine guns to a second customer and then another AK47 in a third deal.
Brazendale worked for Umair Zaheer, who specialised in sourcing weapons for underworld criminals.
On April 15 2020 Brazendale had a busy day, passing over an AK47 to a man in exchange for £10,500. That gun was later recovered near Wigan.
Later that day he rode his bicycle to the car park of a Tesco store in Thelwall, Warrington, and handed over Uzi and Skorpion machine guns, a Taurus Brasil revolver and 300 rounds of ammunition. He collected £37,000 in cash.
He was then sent to the same car park, where he put an AK47 and large quantity of ammunition into the boot of another man’s BMW.
Brazendale, Zaheer and others in the plot were all identified as a direct result of the EncroChat led police operation.
Brazendale admitted conspiring to transfer prohibited firearms and was sentenced to 11 years and three months.
Zaheer, of Somerset Road, Eccles, was sentenced to 25 years in jail after admitting conspiracy to possess firearms or ammunition with intent to endanger life; possession of firearms with intent to endanger life; conspiracy to supply cocaine and conspiracy to supply cannabis.
TrustedBat
Wirral drug dealer Jon Hassall is the latest in a long line of criminals who identified themselves on the EncroChat network with selfie photographs.
Police were able to link him to the TrustedBat Encro account after he sent a selfie type of himself to an associate.
In Hassall’s case, the discovery of the selfie helped Merseyside Police to link him to the TrustedBat account and to the dealing of 3kgs of cocaine and 40kg of cannabis - given a combined value of £225,000.
Hassall, of Witley Close in Moreton, was sentenced to seven years in prison when he appeared at Liverpool Crown Court earlier this week.
Following his sentencing, Detective Inspector Mike Dalton said: “This latest conviction is after another guilty plea which just cements the strength of evidence we have in these type cases.
“At Merseyside Polic e we are making good progress in exposing criminals who think they have evaded detection by utilising encrypted devices.
“Our operation doesn’t just affect serious organised crime taking place at the higher end, but it is also reaching down to street level drug deals and county lines operations.
“Ultimately people in our communities are seeing a positive difference in their neighbourhood and making it a safer place to live.
“I think this sends a clear message to criminals that we’ll continue to be relentless in our pursuit of them.”
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