Police smash £1.4m drug gang after dealer’s mum ‘caught red-handed’ on bed with huge pile of cash
A huge drug distribution ring operating across the country was busted after police raided a property to find the lead drug dealer’s mum on bed next to piles of money
A criminal drug ring’s £1.4 million operation was smashed after police caught the lead dealer’s mum sitting next to a huge pile of cash.
A court heard that officers discovered nearly £500,000 in cash, which turned out to be only “the tip of the iceberg”, upon raiding a property home to Ian Shacklady and Gillian Melville. The pair’s son, Alan Causer, was revealed to be the leader of an organised crime gang responsible for transporting hundreds of kilos of deadly class A drugs around the UK.
Police found a total of £481,375 in cash hidden in various spots around the Shacklady property, including the neatly piled stacks of money Causer’s mother was found sat beside and “large quantities of cash on the floor at her feet”, according to prosecutor Henry Riding. Four kilos of cannabis worth an estimated £40,000 and notebooks containing “meticulous records of their drug dealing activities” were also discovered.
After trial at Liverpool Crown Court, on Friday the members of the drugs ring were sentenced to a total of 50 years in prison. Detectives had traced the movement of over £1.4 million of cash over the previous months, as well as evidence of the distribution of at least 360kg of cocaine and 25kg of heroin. Five defendants were tried and prosecuted in total.
Owner of the raided property, Shacklady, had previous drug offences and provided a prepared statement to police claiming “he had allowed a person who he wasn’t prepared to name to store items at his address, believing it was only money” and had not been aware drugs were also being stored in his home.
Ring leader, Alan Causer, 45, gave no comment to detectives when arrested but was told by the judge at his sentencing: “You were organising and directing the buying and selling of drugs on a commercial scale. Those were, in reality, your ledgers which revealed an insight into the tenure and productivity of the conspiracy.” He was sentenced to 18 years.
John Germaine, 35 was implicated in the criminal activities when his fingerprints were found on bags of cash at the Shacklady property. 9kg of “high purity” cocaine was also discovered in s storage unit belonging to him. He claimed he “knew this was coming” when first talking to police, admitting that “began making drug and cash runs” around May 2021 after falling into “several thousand pounds” of debt. He received an 11 year sentence.
Gillian Melville, pleaded guilty to possession of criminal property and received 23 month suspended prison sentence plus rehabilitation and mental health treatment requirements. The court heard how she was described as ” good character” who had been “vulnerable for some time”.
Judge Denis Watson KC told the mother: “You must have known exactly what was going on. Your son kept his ledgers at your home and he kept the ill-gotten gains at your address too. You knew precisely what your partner and son were up to and how long they had been doing it. Even though you were involved on one day, it is not overstating it to say that you did not have to be asked twice – you acted with your eyes open.”
