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Daily Record
21 hours ago
- Daily Record
Drug dealer jailed after police track him down due to famous dad
The son of the famous lead singer was involved in multi-million pound drug deals and sentenced to ten years and eight months for the supply of cocaine, ketamine, cannabis and heroin. A 30-year-old drug dealer has been jailed for 10 years after police tracked him down due to his famous dad. A team of specialist cops identified him from messages about his 90s singer father. An associate within their drug network even sent him a picture of his famous dad and made comments which confirmed their relationship. Thomas Hooton, the son of The Farm lead singer Peter Hooton, has been jailed and sentenced to ten years and eight months for the supply of cocaine, ketamine, cannabis and heroin. The 30-year-old drug dealer, who had previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply drugs, was using the name "Ownraptor" and quickly became a trusted broker of multi-million pound drug deals, reports the Mirror. Thomas also wrote in messages that he was driving a black Audi A3 and his "arl fella", meaning his dad, had arranged the insurance. Thomas was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday. On the back of his arrest by Merseyside's Organised Crime Partnership in April this year, Thomas made the decision to plead guilty. He had been using the messaging service EncroChat to broker his drug deals which reportedly had the street value of an estimated £ 1.3million. Police were also able to detect that he had been using more than 40 names for contact and had also set up a county lines supply that covered Scotland, north-east and the south of England. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. 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." They added: "His messages said he was in possession of around £400,000 and owed £258,000." The offences which led to his arrest were reportedly between March 26 and June 4 five years ago. 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 deactivated in 2020 by a European investigation team. The Mirror has reached out to Peter Hooton for a comment.
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Daily Mirror
Son of 90s singer jailed for 10 years after message identified famous dad
The son of the famous lead singer was involved in multi-million pound drug deals and sentenced to ten years and eight months for the supply of cocaine, ketamine, cannabis and heroin A 30-year-old drug dealer was put behind bars for 10 years after police tracked him down due to his famous dad. A team of specialist investigators identified him from messages about his musician father. An associate within their drug network even sent him a picture of his famous dad and made comments which confirmed their relationship. Thomas Hooton, the son of The Farm lead singer Peter Hooton, has been jailed and sentenced to ten years and eight months for the supply of cocaine, ketamine, cannabis and heroin. The 30-year-old drug dealer, who had previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply drugs, was using the name "Ownraptor" and quickly became a trusted broker of multi-million pound drug deals. Thomas also wrote in messages that he was driving a black Audi A3 and his "arl fella", meaning his dad, had arranged the insurance. Thomas was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday. On the back of his arrest by Merseyside's Organised Crime Partnership in April this year, Thomas made the decision to plead guilty. He had been using the messaging service EncroChat to broker his drug deals which reportedly had the street value of an estimated £1.3million. Police were also able to detect that he had been using more than 40 names for contact and had also set up a county lines supply that covered Scotland, north-east and the south of England. 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." They added: "His messages said he was in possession of around £400,000 and owed £258,000." The offences which led to his arrest were reportedly between March 26 and June 4 five years ago. 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 deactivated in 2020 by a European investigation team.
Scottish Sun
2 days ago
- Scottish Sun
Drug dealer son of iconic 1990s band's lead singer who was snared by cops after finding messages about his dad is jailed
The classic band had their first album debut at number one in the UK charts in 1991 DEALER CAGED Drug dealer son of iconic 1990s band's lead singer who was snared by cops after finding messages about his dad is jailed Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THE drug dealer son of an iconic '90s 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. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 Thomas Hooton, 30, has been jailed for more than 10 years for his role in multi-million pound drug deals Credit: National Crime Agency 2 The 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 Credit: Getty However, specialist officers 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. Today, the 30-year-old was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court to 10 years and eight months in prison 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.
