Smiling, having a few beers in the garden during the first lockdown. The man in the red Armani T-shirt is Leon Atkinson, a target criminal for GMP and close friend of cop killer Dale Cregan.
Police believe Atkinson has been the head of a Tameside organised crime group for a decade. In 2013, on trial alongside Cregan, he was cleared of murdering Mark Short and attempting to murder three others in Droylsden's Cotton Tree pub. Cregan would later admit to killing Mark Short, 23, his father, David, 46, and police constables Fiona Bone, 32, and Nicola Hughes, 23, who he lured to a house in Hattersley.
The Crown had alleged Atkinson had recruited Cregan to commit the murder of Mark Short after his mother had been slapped 12 days earlier by a member of the Short family. But a jury cleared him off all charges.
But the image of him relaxing in the sunshine was key evidence in his downfall as a big time drugs dealer. The picture was taken on April 8th 2020 and sent to Jason Cox. It was discovered after law enforcement agencies cracked the "secret" Encrochat network used by criminals to message each other.
It was found by police on Jason Cox's phone as they investigated the drug-dealing activities of the Salford-based Cox family. Using the handles 'Carrothorn' and 'Maidenbear' Atkinson messaged the Cox clan to negotiate buying from them half of £1m worth of cocaine they had stolen from an infamous Liverpool crime gang.
Police believe Atkinson was aware the cocaine had been taxed from other criminals but did not know it had been stolen from such a potent Merseyside firm. Jason and Craig Cox, Liverpool gangster, Richard Caswell, and hired hand, Ben Monks-Gorton, carried out a brutal burglary at the Liverpool gang's drugs stash house to get the 30kg of cocaine which had wholesale value of £1.2m, and was hidden in a storm drain. A father and son were seriously injured when attacked with a machete and axe during the theft.
The deal with Atkinson was done near Manchester City's Etihad Stadium. Manchester Crown Court was told Michael Nevin a courier working for the Cox family arranged to sell the drugs to Atkinson who sent a "mate" to meet him near Manchester City's training ground in East Manchester.
At the handover, Nevin sold six kilograms of cocaine to Nathan Powell, who used the Encro handle 'Festivetape.' After the handover one customer was back in touch and said he wanted to buy another seven kilograms of drugs.
A second meeting was also held near to Manchester City's training ground. The court heard that the criminals involved in the handover used the password 'Man City' for the meeting.
The court also heard that one of Nevin's customers was annoyed about the use of the 'Man City' password because he was a Manchester United fan. Nevin joked that the customer had been left 'fuming.'
Police learned about the meetings near the Manchester City ground after reading messages sent on the EncroChat network. Greater Manchester Police and the North West Regional Crime Unit later arrested the main participants in the conspiracy.
Detective Chief Inspector, Roger Smethurst, of GMP, commenting on the picture Atkinson sent Jason Cox, said: "He became so confident in the security of these devices that they became very blasé about using them. They thought they were undetectable by the police. He is not the only one who has made mistakes around the use of them.
"We estimate Atkinson has been head of an organised crime group for the last ten years. He bought 15kg of cocaine (from the Cox brothers) unwittingly and then finds himself in caught in the middle of a major dispute between the Cox and the Liverpool gang. He knows that it is taxed but not who it has been taxed from. "
Atkinson, 43, had moved from the Tameside area to Atherton, but, his criminal career was interrupted in July 2020 when he was in a first raft of 34 people charged locally after the encrypted phone network was infiltrated by police.
Almost 800 people were arrested across the UK after French officials hacked the Encrochat platform enabling police to read text messages.
Detective Chief Inspector Smethurst said: "We started to look at messages Atkinson had sent and saw that he was involved in the supply of class A drugs and he was controlling people around him in the Openshaw and Tameside area, working on his behalf, in mainly cocaine.
"He was ultimately charged with a conspiracy involving 28kg of cocaine of which inadvertently he takes possession of the 15kg from the Cox's."
At Manchester Crown Court Atkinson of Brindley Close, Atherton, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs and conspiracy to transfer criminal property. He was described in court as a 'regional' cocaine supplier who sold on drugs imported into the UK by a contact.
