MAIL-ORDER DRUGS BARON IS FORCED TO GIVE UP £1.8M
PAYBACK TIME CONTINUES AS JAILED DEALER LOSES ILL-GAINED ASSETS
A CRIMINAL who ran a drugs mail-order business from the attic in his modest semidetached house has had more than £1.8 million confiscated by a court, writes Suzy Gibson.
Paul Johnson was jailed for eight years in February, but was back at Leicester Crown Court for a proceeds of crime hearing to seize his assets.
Johnson, a first class honours graduate, was said to have turned to selling drugs after only being able to find a job in a fast-food restaurant and becoming disillusioned with the jobs market.
Operating under the guise of a tea trader, Johnson imported and sold about 200kg of heroin, cocaine, LSD, cannabis and ketamine, using bitcoin currency via the internet’s dark web.
The 32-year-old ran the lucrative drugs business from the attic of his home in Northampton Road, Market Harborough, where he lived with his wife, Lia Johnson, now known as Lia Taylor-Walton. The couple are said to have separated.
She was also said to have profited from the operation and had £134,872 confiscated.
A CRiMiNAL who made a fortune running a drugs empire from the attic of his modest semi-detached home has had more than £1.8 million confiscated by a court.
Paul Johnson was jailed for eight years in February, but was back at Leicester Crown Court for a proceeds of crime hearing to seize his assets.
Despite a first class honours degree, he could only get a job as a fast-food worker and became so disillusioned with the jobs market he became a highrolling drug dealer instead.
Operating under the guise of a tea trader, Johnson imported and sold about 200 kilograms of heroin, cocaine, LSD, cannabis and ketamine, using bitcoin currency via the internet’s dark web, which is associated with the criminal underworld.
The 32-year-old former KFC worker ran the lucrative drugs business from the attic of his semidetached house in Northampton Road, Market Harborough, where he lived with his wife, Lia Johnson, now known as Lia Taylor-Walton. The couple are now separated, the court was told.
Judge Martin Hurst rubberstamped the Proceeds of Crime Act hearing by announcing that Paul Johnson had benefited to the tune of £2,183,304 although the amount available for confiscation, mainly in frozen bank accounts, was set at £1,837,601 which the defendant was said to have “already signed over”.
The judge formally ordered it should be paid within three months, including proceeds from the sale of the couple’s home that Johnson purchased outright for £175,000 in 2016.
Other assets being sold included a £20,000 Range Rover and a £3,300 Nissan Juke vehicle with private number plate.
Both vehicles were used by Johnson’s wife as he did not drive.
WHAT WERE THE OFFENCES? Johnson, a business studies graduate, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to acquiring criminal property, a quantity of money, between February 2015 and December 2017, as well as supplying class A and B drugs.
Taylor-Walton, 28, who was given a two-year jail sentence, suspended for two years, admitted acquiring criminal property – their home – and both defendants admitted similar counts in respect of both cars.
Taylor-Walton did not attend the proceeds of crime hearing, which went ahead without her, but the judge ruled she had benefited to the tune of £143,040 and the available amount to be confiscated in her case was £134,872.
HOW JOHNSON RAN HIS EMPIRE Luke Blackburn, prosecuting, said at the earlier sentencing hearing that Johnson imported drugs via parcel delivery from Canada, Spain and other countries for packaging in the attic, ready for distribution by post to dark web customers throughout the UK.
On December 13, 2017, police executed a search warrant at Johnson’s home.
Officers seized an array of drugs in the attic, along with packaging and labelling relating to Johnson’s bogus tea business.
The defendant used several rented “dummy addresses for deliveries” and was said to have spent £34,000 in parcel postage fees alone.
Mr Blackburn said: “His wife knew what was going on, perhaps not the details, but he put her in a difficult position as none of her offending would have happened had it not been for him. in her case the money laundering doesn’t represent any drug importation.
“She says she believed most of his business was connected with computer parts, as he had once worked in that line of business, and that’s accepted.
“She said she knew he was sending out cannabis to ‘some people.’”
He studied hard to obtain a first class degree and walked out of university into a job at KFC
James Varley
WORKING CLASS BOY
James Varley, representing Johnson, told the sentencing hearing the defendant was “a working-class boy from Yorkshire”.
He said: “He studied hard to obtain a first class honours degree and walked out of university into a job at KFC – and didn’t know why he’d bothered obtaining the qualifications he did.
“His activities could have been stopped a long time ago, as Border Control interceptions were taking place, and he was at risk of being rumbled much earlier.”
Philip Gibbs, mitigating for TaylorWalton, told the earlier hearing: “They lived in a modest house and I suggest she turned a blind eye. “There was no flashy lifestyle. “Most of the money was in the bank account that she didn’t have access to.”
Both defendants were of previous good character.
WHAT IS THE PROCEEDS OF CRIME ACT 2002?
Money earned as a result of, or in connection with, an offence can be recovered under the Act. That includes assets bought with the proceeds of crime.
Anyone convicted of a crime can be ordered to pay.
Confiscated money is usually shared between the police, the Home Office and the Crown Prosecution Service.
It can also be used to compensate victims of crime and councils can apply to claim some of the proceeds to set up community projects.
WHAT IS THE DARK WEB?
The dark web is a secret cyberworld on the internet that is not visible to search engines and requires the use of a “Tor” browser providing anonymity for users. It is often used for criminal activity.
WHAT IS BITCOIN?
Bitcoin is a digital currency created in 2009.
It can be used to buy and sell items from people and companies that accept bitcoins as payment and it does not exist in actual coins or notes. It exists only online and does not have a central bank.