Carlisle jury convicts tenth defendant in £53m cocaine plot trial

Scott Owen, 33, denied being part of the "nationwide" conspiracy,  featuring organised crime groups supplying hundreds of kilos of the Class A drug across Cumbria, Yorkshire, South Wales, and the Midlands.

The defendant was charged after police uncovered his links to other conspirators, including 31-year-old Windermere man Reece Barnes.

Owen is the tenth person to be convicted for being part of the conspiracy.

It took the jury seven hours and 32 minutes to find Owen guilty of conspiring with others to supply the Class A drug. The verdict comes after what became the biggest drug trafficking investigation ever seen in Cumbria.

Working with Cumbria Police, officers from the Northwest Regional and Organised Crime Unit uncovered what Judge Nicolas Barker described as a drugs trade that operated along “corporate and commercial” lines.

The investigation - codenamed Operation Matrix - exposed a plot that ran for almost 15 months until police effectively smashed it at the end of May 2023.

Welcoming the guilty verdict on Owen, one of the senior investigators said: “It’s been a massive amount of work but worth it - because we have taken some significant people out of the drugs supply business.

"That can only be a good thing for communities in Cumbria.”

The cocaine trade, said the officer, fuels much crime, including theft to fund addiction and violence, some of it linked to criminal "enforcers" extorting cash out of drug users.

The detective added: “We seized 58 kilos of cocaine, but we know there were other [drug] runs made of the same nature.”

That part of the conspiracy probably involved around 230 kilos of the drug but when added to another part of the illicit operation, the amount of cocaine involved probably reached 350 kilos.

During the Carlisle trial, prosecutor Tim Evans outlined the astonishing scale of the cocaine operation, telling the jury that the estimated value of the drugs moved by the criminals involved equated to up to £53million.

Multiple kilos of the drug were brought to Windermere, where Barnes kept his drugs in a lockup, generally moving the cocaine in and out of the garage in shoeboxes, said Mr Evans.

Owen was arrested last May when he returned to the UK from Portugal.

He was there for a stag do, he said. He said none of the men who have admitted being part of the conspiracy were part of that event.

His defence barrister Patrick Harte asked Owen: “Were you involved with any of those men in dealing drugs?” The defendant responded with: “Most definitely not.” 

Owen said he was under suspicion because he knew a few of the conspirators – including Barnes. He knew 36-year-old Darryl Preston, a friend for 18 years.

Reece Barnes and he had boxed together in Windermere and used the same gym, he told the jury.

Owen, of Salisbury Way, Wigan, said one of the conspirators spoke to him about buying a car but not in personal terms. He did not know the others, he said.

The defendant said he is from a “good solid family”, and had set up two companies: one based on his involvement in breeding cane corso dogs and another – funded by a loan from his grandfather – which specialised in logistics.

Mr Evans told the jury that Owen was involved in the cocaine plot, and generally worked with Preston.

Judge Barker told Owen he and the other defendants will be sentenced during a two day hearing at Carlisle Crown Court, scheduled to take place on March 11 and 12.

In the meantime, Owen will be remanded in custody.

The men who have earlier admitted involvement in the conspiracy are Reece Barnes, of Elim Grove, Bowness-on-Windermere; Stephen Stockall, of Well Lane, Weaverham, Northwich; Simon Buller, 45, of Freshfield Avenue, Atherton; Andrew Stephens, of East Field Drive, Golborne, near Wigan; Cane Turner, 32, of no fixed address; Anthony Warhurst, 58, of Knowsley Street, Leigh; Thomas Whittaker, 45, of Brierfield, Digmoor, Skelmersdale; and Michael Evans, 36, of no fixed address; and Darryl Preston, of Hampson Street, Atherton.