‘Private police’ boss guilty of dealing drugs
A FORMER soldier who set up as a private crimefighter and boasted on TV of being better than the police was secretly flooding crime-plagued estates with drugs.
John “Winky” Watson claimed to be tackling yobs who were running riot in deprived areas, charging residents £13-a-year to keep them safe.
His private police led to an appearance on Good Morning Britain when he told host Kate Garraway: “There is a large demand in my community, it is very high in crime.”
Watson became a cult figure as people in Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Redcar put their faith in him to patrol their estates.
The 41-year-old, who served in Bosnia and Northern Ireland with the Green Howards regiment, featured on Channel 4 documentary Skint Britain, which followed him as he signed up customers to JWS Security in Hartlepool.
He said: “These people work long hours and they don’t want some little b ****** going up and robbing their belongings.” But Cleveland police’s lengthy Operation Spoonbill into drug dealing across the North-east proved that Watson was part of the problem. The investigation focused on dismantling a gang importing vast quantities of drugs.
It has led to 33 people being convicted in separate trials, receiving a combined 262 years in prison. They include Merseyside kingpin Lance Kennedy and Teesside leader Jonathon Moorby, who ran operations from his Thailand base. Prosecutors used phone evidence to link Watson to drug couriers from Merseyside in a month-long trial at Teesside Crown Court. Watson stood trial alongside Steven Beazley, 39, and Craig Costello, 38.
They were all convicted by the jury of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.
JWS Security is still trading.