Trafficker’s deadly threat
DRUG BOSS’S FURY AS PARTNER LOSES $20K DRUGS, CASH IN POLICE STING
DOWN $20,000 worth of “s--t” after his business partner was intercepted by police outside of Townsville in May 2020, Upper Daradgee drug trafficking boss John Durham Willey was upset – to say the least.
In no uncertain terms, Willey told his partner Phillip William Walpole he had lost him $16,000 and he would “put a hole in him” if he opened his mouth again, the Cairns Supreme Court heard this week.
“There are discussions variously during the course of telephone intercepts that Mr Willey has access to guns, so it’s not a hollow threat,” Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane told the court.
But losing a pound of methylamphetamine and $2450 cash in a traffic intercept wasn’t enough to dissuade Willey from his enterprise.
Nor was it enough to raise his suspicions that this was more than a case of a bumbling business partner who was flapping his gums about town.
In fact, both their phones had been tapped by police during Operation
Sierra Footrope. On June 13 police overheard a conversation that Mr Walpole was going to fly from Townsville to Brisbane – a move they believed was linked to discussions a month earlier about purchasing $74,000 of meth.
Mr Walpole was arrested at Brisbane Airport, where he was found with $84,100 of cash, cryo-vacced, on his person.
Remarkably, after Mr Walpole was arrested, Willey continued with his drug trafficking business, Justice Jim Henry observed.
“Which seems to suggest a mix of brazen criminal arrogance but also a degree of ignorance, or stupidity in failing to apprehend that eyes were upon you,” he said.
Willey was eventually arrested two months later on August 21, 2020.
In court on Friday, the 39-year-old pleaded guilty to trafficking methylamphetamine and cannabis, and refusing to hand over the pin code to his mobile phone.
His business partner, Mr Walpole, has entered pleas of guilty to trafficking, possessing dangerous drugs and possessing currency, and is due to be sentenced on March 22.
The court heard the trafficking operation was in full swing when police first gained access to Mr Walpole’s phone records on March 3, 2020, which evidenced Mr Walpole talking about “chasing paperwork”, code for the collection of debts from drug customers, the court heard.
Mr Crane described how the operation worked, with Mr Walpole supplying drugs and collecting debts in concert with Mr Willey, who sourced the drugs.
“Just on that note, you pair of dumb c---s better have my paperwork tonight. You got that dogs?” read one text from Mr Walpole to a customer.
After also accessing Willey’s stored phone records from April 30, police began tapping both their phones from May 19.
The court heard Willey trafficked methylamphetamine to a range of customers around the Far North, across a five-month period, in amounts ranging from a point to a ball – 3.5g of meth.
Willey began consuming methylamphetamine at the age of 14, the court heard.
His history included an array of offending involving violence.
While serving 546 days in pre-sentence custody, he had conducted himself productively, Justice Henry said.
Willey received a head sentence of seven years, with a parole eligibility date of December 20, 2022.