The brother of former NSW deputy premier and police minister Paul Toole has pleaded guilty to supplying nearly two kilograms of methamphetamine as part of a major ice supply network operating across the Hunter and Central Coast.
But Joshua Toole, 40, on Wednesday walked out of Newcastle courthouse, managing to delay starting what will inevitably be a lengthy jail term, after his solicitor, Drew Hamilton, fought off a prosecution detention application.
Toole was in December released on NSW Supreme Court bail due to the "entirely unsatisfactory solitary incarceration" that he was facing behind bars due to his brother's high profile.
And Mr Hamilton on Wednesday successfully argued that, while Toole will inevitably serve a lengthy jail term, he should not be placed back on remand and into more than 23-hour lockdown as an unclassified and at risk prisoner until he is sentenced sometime in 2024.
Magistrate Robert Stone agreed the conditions Toole faced if bail refused before being classified amounted to "exceptional and special circumstances" and continued Toole's bail.
Toole on Wednesday pleaded guilty to supplying a large commercial quantity of methamphetamine after prosecutors agreed to withdraw more than 30 other charges, rolling the counts up into one supply totalling nearly two kilograms.
Toole was on parole for similar drug supply offences and it was that plea that triggered the prosecution applying to have him detained immediately under relatively new legislation.
Toole was at the head of a drug syndicate that included Paul Colvin, David Bui, Tahney Partland and a fourth man that used encrypted apps, "dead drop" drug transactions and attempted to flood the Hunter and Central Coast with ice in 2022.
But, instead of mid-level drug dealers looking to feed the ravenous methamphetamine market, the syndicate were communicating with police and repeatedly supplied large quantities of ice to undercover operatives.
Between March and October 2022, police were conducting surveillance on Toole, including putting a device on his car, and were also communicating with the syndicate using the encrypted messaging application, Threema.
In July last year, an undercover police officer was added to a group chat that included Toole and Colvin.
And during a conversation the group arranged a "dead drop" of drugs for $32,500.
On July 13, the undercover police officer drove to a remote fire trail at Murrays Beach where he found 140 grams of ice hidden inside a tyre.
The officer took the drugs and left $32,500 in a spot nearby.
A short time later, Colvin arrived and picked up the cash.
The same arrangement was made during another chat on the encrypted app and on August 5 the undercover police officer went back to the same spot, dropped off the cash and took the drugs.
Again, Colvin came and collected the cash later that day.
Toole and another man also arranged a "dead drop" of 140 grams of ice, which they left in a McDonald's cup at Belmont North on August 11.
As well as those supplies, Toole and Bui supplied methamphetamine to undercover operatives on 10 other occasions, each time leaving about 140 grams of the drug behind a black pot plant near the front door of a home at Wadalba.
As well as Toole, three other members of the syndicate have pleaded guilty to their roles in the operation.
Colvin in August pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying an indictable quantity of a prohibited drug and two counts of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime in relation to the two "dead drop" drug supplies at Murrays Beach.
Bui pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying a large commercial quantity of methamphetamine and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime in relation to the Wadalba pot plant "dead drop", while his partner, Partland, pleaded guilty to knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime in relation to the $124,000 in cash she collected from the pot plant.
Those three will be sentenced in Newcastle District Court over the next six months.
A fourth man, Peter Charles Ninness, who police allege was involved in supplying 140 grams of methamphetamine with Toole at Belmont North, appeared in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday.
Mr Ninness, who has recently gained legal representation, has not entered a plea and will next appear in court next month.
Toole will next appear in Newcastle District Court next month to get a sentence date. He remains on strict bail, including a 24-hour curfew.
