A drug lord who has spent the best part of the last 25 years behind bars has been released from prison with strict orders that ban him from entering Scotland.
Curtis ''Cocky'' Warren, 59, once worth an estimated £300 million, was released on November 21 from Whitemoor maximum security prison in Cambridgeshire after a 14 year jail term.
Warren, who has been dubbed the UK's Pablo Escobar, is expected to return to Liverpool where he built his drug empire having only had three weeks of freedom since 1997, the Mirror reports.
The kingpin nicknamed, ''Cocky Watchman", is now leaving jail on the terms that he follows orders that restrict him from using WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger or buying cryptocurrency.
The agreed conditions also prevent him from travelling in a friend's car without letting a police handler know at least a day in advance or going to Scotland. A failure to comply with these rules could potentially land him back in jail for another five years.
The sanctions were enforced on Warren in 2013 in the UK’s first serious crime prevention order but he will be able to return to Liverpool where he is believed to still have ties with senior crime figures who control the drugs trade.
A source close to Warren told The Sun: “Cocky always planned on coming back to Liverpool.”
His barrister Anthony Barraclough also told the media: “The first thing he wanted to do was to see his mother.
"He just wants peace and quiet. He is allowed to have a decent, ordinary life.”
Warren was arrested in 2007 by undercover police just days after he had been set free from jail for a previous offence.
He got a 13 year prison sentence in 2009 for attempting to smuggle £1million of cannabis into Jersey and later received another 10 years, which he had to serve half of for failing to pay a £198million confiscation order.
One insider has now said: “There’ll be eyes all over Curtis when he gets out and he knows he’ll be restricted as to where he can go and who he can see.
“He’s an intelligent man so I’m sure he’ll be keeping a low profile on his release.”
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