Corby drug lord used Encrochat to buy and sell kilogram blocks of cocaine

Scott Bruce Stirling appeared at Northampton Crown Court yesterday to be sentenced for his leading role in the conspiracy that saw a wide network of dealers dismantled.

He had pleaded guilty to being a part of the group, but had continually denied being the man in charge.

So a special hearing took place this week to decide the extent of his role in the plot. Her Honour Judge Rebecca Crane said that the evidence showed he was the manager of a section of the operation that pushed drugs wholesale into Northampton.

She listed 21 examples of Stirling, 45, sending others in the gang out with packages containing either drugs or money. His Corby-based foot soldiers were sent to cities including London, Peterborough, Coventry and Liverpool.

He was sentenced on the basis that he dealt 8kg of cannabis during November 2019 and July 2020, when he quickly exited the gang after he realised police were closing in on him. But the court heard that up to 15kg of the Class-A drug could have been involved.

The 45-year-old was said to be living the high life at The Castle Inn, Caldecott, where he had been staying before his arrest. He even delegated his dealing to another member of the gang while he went on holiday for Christmas.

Judge Crane said that messages from Stirling’s Encrochat phone, on which he used the name Energetic Belt, showed that he used the phone to contact other wholesale dealers, including to discuss a £65k deal with his co-conspirator Abdelilah Hilali.

But he had nine other burner phones to keep in touch with those below him in the chain.

Hilali, 46, was previously involved in an audacious plane smuggling plot to import illicit drugs into Deenethorpe airfield in 2012. He was jailed for eight years for his part in that scheme. But soon after his release, Hilali of North Circular Road, Stonebridge, Brent, was back dealing drugs in Corby with Stirling.

The entire encrypted international Encrochat network was brought crashing down in June 2020 – a month before Stirling abandoned his gang – when French police cracked its code and exposed the private chats of some the world’s most dangerous criminals.

Judge Crane said that Stirling’s ‘key lieutenant’ was Liam Meenan, of Southbrook, although a jury found the 40-year-old not guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine in September last year. He was sent to collect drugs from London and Peterborough on several occasions.

Yesterday’s hearing was told phone messages showed Stirling sent his cousin, Stefan Lindner, 39, of Mackintosh Court, Corby, to Peterborough on three occasions to collect cash or drugs.

He also dispatched Patrick McCusker, 41, of Pytchley Court and Robert Beaton, 43, of Eastbrook, to Coventry with packages.

Messages showed references to a £30,000 payment and the trade of ‘three corners’ of cocaine. A corner is a quarter of a kilo.

Stirling was also found to have done a 2kg cocaine trade in April 2020 with a man named ‘Purves’ from Peterborough, thought to be dealer Matthew Purves, who has not been charged with any offences. There was a later deal with Purves during which Stirling travelled to the nearby city himself.

Then there was a £28.5k deal for the ‘Bolivia Line’, in which Christopher Graham, 28, of Farmstead Road, was sent to Peterborough for the handover.

And Stirling also sent Liam Preston, 38, of Gunthorpe Place, John Doyle,48, of Murdoch Place, and another man, Liam Rogers, to Liverpool to collect two kilo blocks of cocaine.

But on the trip back, the trio was stopped by police and the cocaine seized. Stirling was later seen ditching a plastic bag containing weighing scales.

Encrochat messages also showed several references to trips to Holland.

Judge Crane said: “I am sure that each trip (made by Stirling’s gang) related to at least 1kg of cocaine or payment for drugs which were then distributed to users in Northamptonshire.

"The Encrochat shows he was not being controlled or dictated to by others. The nature of the discussion is one of business partners making arrangements. He was purchasing cocaine for his own operation.”

Back in 2012, Stirling was give a four year sentence after he was convicted of helping his older brother Gilbert running a business nicknamed The Shop – a fortress-like house in Eastbrook, Corby, that had a built-in hatch from which the family and associated could sell drugs without revealing their faces.

The pair’s mum Patricia Stirling was also convicted of playing a part in the plot.

Gilbert Stirling is also currently serving nearly five years in prison for his part in a plot to flood Corby with amphetamine and cocaine purchased from Scouse dealers. He was caught in September 2021 on a trip from Liverpool to Corby with 6kg of amphetamine in his car.

Robert (Bobby) Beaton, who was a part of Scott Stirling’s most recent gang, was also a partner in The Shop plot, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison.

The court heard Scott Stirling had convictions for GBH from 2002 and affray in 1998. He has been in custody since his arrest in 2021.

He was described as a ‘family man’ with two teenage children who had now ‘learned his lesson’.

He has been working in the kitchens at HMP Peterborough and his barrister said he was ‘genuinely remorseful’ for his actions.

The court was also told that his parents had written letters to the court about their son.

Stirling was given a 12 year jail term, of which he will serve half before release, after admitting conspiracy to supply cocaine. Accounting for time spent on remand, he will be released in just over two years.