The dad used EncroChat to source a firearm on behalf of other criminals while trading in wholesale quantities of heroin, cocaine and cannabis
William Swann, of Harrier Close in Maghull, aged 40(Image: Merseyside Police)
A dad bragged that he earned the same salary as a heart surgeon and pilot by dealing drugs. William Swann used the encrypted communications platform EncroChat to source a firearm on behalf of other criminals while trafficking wholesale quantities of heroin, cocaine and cannabis.
His co-conspirator Anthony Dean, meanwhile, called himself “the graft master” as he plotted to launder dirty money through his bouncy castle hire business. Police then seized luxury watches and revealed a further multi-million-pound scheme, which he had hatched in partnership with an associate known only as “El Pandrino”, when officers pulled over his BMW.
Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday, Friday, that Dean utilised the EncroChat handle “OctoJam”, with Swann going by the username “OctoRain”. Conversations and notes on their accounts, discovered when the network was infiltrated by French police in 2020, revealed the “sheer quantities and prices they were dealing in”, amounting to 13.5kg of heroin, 13kg of cocaine and 62kg of cannabis over a four-month period.
Matthew Conway, prosecuting, described how the two men’s communications also showcased the “ability to source and supply amounts from imported consignments”. In one revealing message, Dean, of Villiers Crescent in St Helens, even boasted: “I’m the graft master with this major graft all over the country.”
Swann, meanwhile, bragged that he was earning £60,000 per year, which he described as a “pilot’s wages or a heart surgeon’s wages”. These sums led them to “conceal their proceeds through legitimate businesses”, including discussing having “£100,000 in the house” and the need to launder these funds by putting the profits through Dean’s bouncy castle business, establishing a car sales business and setting up Bitcoin wallets.
Anthony Dean, of Villiers Crescent in St Helens, aged 42(Image: Merseyside Police)
Swann, of Harrier Close in Maghull, also attempted to “source a brand new handgun” for a contact, who “didn’t want a second hand weapon, given the risk that it might be linked to an offence which occurred before it came into his possession”. This saw the 39-year-old liaise with the user “WearyDog” – previously unmasked as 33-year-old Philip Lam, formerly of Taggart Avenue in Childwall – who “indicated he would speak to someone to see what was available”.
Dean was belatedly arrested on January 30 this year when his BMW was stopped on Fallows Way in Whiston, with a search of the 42-year-old’s property uncovering expensive designer watches and envelopes containing crypto keys. Two mobile phones which were also seized from him revealed messages from another encrypted messaging app, Signal.
This showed his continued involvement in the supply of drugs, including being a participant in a group chat containing four other members which was used to hatch a deal for a further 5kg of drugs on one occasion. Another “thread” meanwhile exposed how Dean and his “business partner”, who was referred to as “El Pandrino”, had “amassed a bill which, between them, came to £1million”, with a series of “ledgers” having been said to document the supply of between 147kg and 200kg of drugs.
Dean has three previous convictions for six offences, including receiving 16 months for conspiracy to supply amphetamine in 2005 and an 18-month sentence for possession of class A and C drugs with intent to supply in 2007. Nick Johnson KC, defending, said on his behalf: “El Pandrino, whoever he may have been, was directing, to a degree, what Mr Dean was doing.”
Of a letter submitted to the court by his client, he added: “It is a fairly unusual characteristic of a defendant’s letter that it does not seek to make excuses and uses the word greed. Although Mr Dean does have previous convictions which appear to be of a similar character, they are a world away from this, and, more importantly, they were a long time ago.
“You are faced, in effect, with a man approaching his 43rd birthday who has reached, probably, a watershed moment in his life. He has no unrealistic expectations.”
Swann was also detained by Merseyside Police on the same date, with a gold medallion and sworn being recovered from his property. He has two previous convictions for three unrelated offences, his last appearance coming for driving matters in 2017.
William Swann, of Harrier Close in Maghull, aged 40(Image: Merseyside Police)
His counsel, Damian Nolan, referencing a letter penned by Swann, told the court: “It shows recognition of his wrongdoing and the impact that it has had on those who use drugs, the impact it has had on his family and, really, recognition by him that, while he will serve the sentence, the stark and sad reality is that his immediate family will serve the sentence as well. His letter does not express one iota of self-pity.
“It is about the recognition of the impact that it is going to have on others. He has two young children. It is incomprehensible to him that the only way they will see their father is to go through the indignity of the prison system. That is not how one maintains a relationship with your children. He has to bear the brunt of that and the responsibility for it.
“The defendant is committed to putting this series of events behind him so that, when he is released, there will not be any return to prison for him. He knew the scope of the business and what it was about, namely making money. He did desist from offending and has not returned to it. These offences are now five years of age. While he had been at liberty prior to his arrest, he had known that the inevitable knock would be coming to hold him to account.
“There is genuine remorse. There is ample evidence that he has taken determined steps to turn his life around, thereby evidencing that this is to be the only time that he is to be sentenced for this type of offending. It has been a salutary lesson for him.”
Dean admitted two counts of conspiracy to supply heroin, two of conspiracy to supply cocaine, two charges of conspiracy to supply cannabis, two offences of conspiracy to supply cannabis resin, conspiracy to fraudulently evade the prohibition on the importation of cannabis and money laundering. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool wearing a white t-shirt, he was jailed for 16 years.
Swann pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin, cocaine, cannabis and cannabis resin; conspiracy to fraudulently evade the prohibition on the importation of cannabis; money laundering; and intentionally encouraging or assisting an offence. Also appearing remotely and wearing a black Asics t-shirt, he was imprisoned for 14 years.
Sentencing, Judge Simon Medland KC said: “You are to be sentenced for your involvement in very serious drug offending. I have no doubt that, when you were undertaking it, you were corrupted by the thought that your activities were beyond the reach of the law, because it was thought that EncroChat was uncrackable. The police authorities proved that decisively wrong.
“As I have sadly had to say on so many occasions, drugs, and especially class A drugs, destroy people’s lives. They ruin people’s mental and physical health and wellbeing. They corrode society. They break up families. You yourselves will be in custody for years to come.
“Because of the terrible effect that drugs have on people and society in general, it is necessary that the courts impose very substantial sentences, even on men like you in your late 30s or early 40s who have no previous convictions which aggravate your positions, who are spoken of in glowing terms and who have undertaken excellent conduct in prison on remand. Outside of this offending, you, generally speaking, were ordinary, pretty decent men, yet you were attracted by what was seen to be a very glamourous and lucrative occupation.”
Merseyside Police told the ECHO that their identities were revealed after they shared pictures showing their unkempt hair amid the covid pandemic and enforced closure of salons and barber shops. Dean’s selfie showed him posing topless in a mirror in his bathroom, with Swann then replying with a picture showing his own hair.
A selfie which Anthony Dean shared over EncroChat(Image: Merseyside Police)
Detective Constable Kevin Mitchell said following the hearing: “This was a sophisticated operation where the drugs they were peddling had a million-pound wholesale value. The 100 kilos of Class A drug which Dean was involved with certainly ran into millions.
“It was very clear from the messages exchanged that they managed the lucrative drugs operation. This illustrated the strength of evidence put forward to convict them, and they both pleaded guilty.
A selfie which William Swann shared over EncroChat(Image: Merseyside Police)
“In one message, Dean bragged that he only wanted to maintain his £6,250 a week personal wage and would reinvest any profits coming in over and above that figure. In a discussion about working too hard on a front business he had set up to clean the illicit money, Dean stated that he had to remember that it was a washing machine, not a business.
“Operation Venetic is continuing to expose criminals who thought they could evade detection by using the encrypted devices. Bringing Dean and Swann to justice has disrupted not only the serious organised crime they were involved in but also street-level drug deals and county lines operations involving vulnerable young people.”
