Pc’s DOUBLE LIFE AS DRUGS GANG BOSS
A SERVING police officer who ‘revelled’ in his double life as the head of a drugs gang posed with a Breaking Bad Walter White T-shirt at his secret cannabis farms, a court heard.
Pc Daniel Aimson, 36, was at the head of a conspiracy which flooded the streets of Manchester and North Wales with the class B drug.
He also stole the identity of an unsuspecting member of the public, taking the man’s driving licence after stopping the motorist and using it to lease one of the premises used as a cannabis farm.
To the wider public, the two drug factories, based at commercial premises in Railway Road, Leigh, were a newsagents and a lettings firm.
But when police raided the buildings, they found sophisticated cannabis farms with 165 plants across the two sites, potentially worth more than £84,000, it was said.
Aimson was sacked by Greater Manchester Police in February after admitting his part in the conspiracy.
He and his ‘right hand man’ Hussein Mozahem, 25, who Aimson had met at a gym, had plans to expand the business and had conducted cannabis grows there previously, a Manchester Crown Court sentencing hearing was told yesterday.
After receiving intelligence, officers launched a surveillance operation, monitoring comings and goings on Railway Road in the weeks before their raid.
Prosecutor Owen Edwards said: “He (Aimson) was seen at various stages on his own CCTV hard drive to wear a T-shirt depicting the lead character Walt in the hit TV series called Breaking Bad.” He added: “In his various text messages it is clear that Aimson revelled in his double life as officer and criminal.”
Aimson was on sick leave from GMP during his offending.
Mr Edwards said that between January 2015 and June last year, Aimson and seven other defendants were involved in the production of cannabis on a commercial scale.
Defending Aimson, Martin Callery said his client does not accept that he ‘revelled’ in his double life.
“He does not accept that he assumed some sort of fictional double life modelled on some television character,” Mr Callery said.
Mr Callery said that Aimson’s policing career had been ‘blighted’ by three serious road traffic accidents that occurred while on duty, which he was not to blame for.
Aimson, of Ullswater Road, Astley, Wigan; Richard Grady, 31, of Park Road, Leigh; Michael Hutton, 53, of Pollard Street, Ancoats; Christopher King, 49, of Bowling Green Court, Huddersfield; Mozahem, 25, of Findlay Street, Leigh; George Parkinson, 30, of Ullswater Street, Leigh, and Jonathon Vaiders, 28, of Jaffrey Street, Leigh, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce cannabis.
Steven Hindley, 27, of Maesgwyn, Rhyl, North Wales, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis.
Aimson also admitted misconduct in a public office.
Hutton also admitted possession of amphetamine with intent to supply and Vaiders pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply.
All eight men were due to be sentenced today.