A Liverpool drug trafficker has been jailed after exchanging messages with organised criminals about his musician father.
Thomas Hooton used EncroChat to move heroine, cocaine, ketamine and cannabis worth more than £600,000 across the country between March and June 2020.
The 30-year-old used the handle ‘Ownraptor’ on the encrypted messaging service to deal drugs with a wholesale value of £1.3 million during the four-month period.
Investigators were able to identify him from messages referring to his father Peter Hooton, the lead singer of The Farm, ahead of eventual arrest in April this year.
He had mentioned being insured to drive a black Audi A3 car which was insured by the singer, which was verified by official checks in the criminal investigation.
A photograph of his father with the Champions League trophy was another key detail which unmasked Hooton’s identity on the now-dismantled message network.
Hooton pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply heroin, cocaine, cannabis and ketamine and was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison on Friday.
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.”