'Greedy and selfish' grandad caught supplying drugs through Encrochat to clear £50k drug debt

A ‘greedy and selfish’ grandad has been jailed for eight years after he was caught supplying cocaine and cannabis through the Encrochat network.

James Fox, 45, had accumulated a drugs debt of £50,000 and ended up having to put his house on the market due to his cocaine habit.

Following the Europe-wide hack into the Encrochat network, a system used exclusively by members of organised crime groups to plan criminal activities, Fox was found to be organising the supply of cocaine and production of cannabis on a commercial scale between January 1 2020 and July 30 2020.

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Minshull Street Crown Court heard that in one message on April 2 he offered a kilo of cocaine for between £40,000 and £41,500.

In another message he was trying to flog a kilo for £39,500.

Fox was unable to shift the kilo, and instead supplied a quarter of cocaine for £10,500, prosecutor Alex Langhorn said.

“In another message he says: “I’ve got a box of green for £5,000 if you know anyone", he said.

“He then said he could get to two cannabis farms with a net profit of £25,000 for five to six kilos.

“He also said he had obtained £25,000 through the COVID bounce back loans and was using that to pay off the drug debt.”

On June 1 he was discussing with another about a kilo of cocaine and said he had a ‘couple of kids’ who were ‘doing half a kilo a week’.

It was suggested that this meant either those supplying half a kilo to users or for onward sale.

Fox was said to have 16 previous convictions for 27 offences for dissimilar matters.

Mitigating, barrister Rick Holland said that his client was in a ‘desperate state’ and found himself having to put his family