Man jailed for 18 years over drug-cutting scam

Jamie Dale

Jamie Dale, 32, from Rochdale, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for his involvement in supplying cutting agents to drug dealers. 

Dale was one of three men who conspired to supply the illegal drugs trade with tonnes of chemicals used as cutting agents. 

Between September 2005 and July 2008, Dale, assisted by John Cawley and Barry Hartley, imported and supplied almost 36 tonnes of cutting agents. 

If the chemicals were mixed at a ratio of 1:1 with class A drugs – a dilution typical at the very top of the supply chain – the street value of the resultant powders would be more than £3.5billion. 

John Cawley and Barry Hartley were sentenced to 15 years and 11 years respectively.

Senior investigating officer John Wright, said: “These substantial sentences are for conspiracy to supply class A drugs though the men were dealing in cutting agents. As far as SOCA is concerned, knowingly selling such chemicals to drug dealers makes you as guilty as the dealers themselves.

“The trade in cutting agents is a major enabler of criminal activity, generating huge profits for drug dealers and making class A drugs cheaper and more available at street level. Without criminals such as Jamie Dale, cocaine would cost users four or five times as much, making it prohibitively expensive for the vast majority of the country, and consequently far less accessible.”

Alun Milford, Head of Organised Crime Division at the CPS, said: “This prosecution was based almost entirely on the wholesale supply of cutting agent chemicals which were intended to be cut with class A drugs, thereby increasing the volume and the street value up to a staggering estimated value of £3.5 billion.

"The three defendants were found guilty of offences of conspiring to supply Class A controlled drugs - cocaine and diamorphine - and a Class B drug, amphetamine; this was the first time such charges were applied to activities involving such large amounts of cutting agents."

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/63585/rochdale-man-found-guilty-over-drugcutting-scam