THE drug dealer son of an iconic 1990s singer has been jailed after being identified in texts linked to his dad.
Thomas Hooton, 30, was trusted to broker multi-million pound drug deals for organised criminals using an encrypted messaging service.
National Crime AgencyThomas Hooton, 30, has been jailed for more than 10 years for his role in multi-million pound drug deals[/caption]
GettyThe criminal was identified after officers deciphered a number of clues which linked the drug dealer to his dad Peter Hooton – lead singer of The Farm[/caption]
However, cops were able to identify the criminal – who was using the name “Ownraptor” – by linking messages on the account to the identity of his dad Peter Hooton, 62, lead singer of The Farm.
The 30-year-old was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court to 10 years and eight months in prison on Friday – after previously pleading guilty to conspiring to supply heroin, cocaine, cannabis and ketamine.
Specialist investigators had managed to nick the drug dealer after piecing together a number of clues about his identity – including pictures of his musician dad with the Champions League trophy.
On one occasion, an associate sent Hooton a picture of his dad Peter and also made comments linking the criminal to him.
Hooton also spoke in messages about driving a Black Audi A3 and that his “arl fella’” arranged his insurance for him.
Official checks then showed Peter Hooton had insured a black Audi A3 for his son.
After being arrested by officers from Merseyside’s Organised Crime Partnership in April, Hooton later pleaded guilty to the supply of a number of drugs.
All in all, he had been messaging criminals on the service EncroChat to deal drugs with a wholesale value of around £1.3 million.
The drug dealer had 41 different names for contacts within EncroChat and had a County Lines drug supply to criminals across Scotland as well as north-east and southern England.
‘HIS DRUG SUPPLY OPERATIONS SPANNED THE UK, WORKING WITH HIGH LEVEL CRIMINALS’
A spokesperson for the National Crime Agency said: “At the very minimum, Hooton was involved in the supply of 42.5kg of cannabis, 3.25kg of heroin, 10 kg of cocaine and 1kg of ketamine.
“His messages said he was in possession of around £400,000 and owed £258,000.”
His offences were committed between March 26 and June 4 in 2020.
Detective Chief Inspector Lynsay Armbruster said: “It’s clear Hooton was involved in organised crime for a long time before he was charged.
“His criminal and geographical reach will have taken considerable time to establish.
“His drug supply operations were on an almost daily basis, they were sustained and spanned the UK working with high level criminals.”
EncroChat was infiltrated and taken down in 2020 by a European taskforce.
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