Members of an organised north of England crime group known as ‘Scouse Jack’ recruited a vulnerable Inverness man to help them sell drugs and gather payment in the Highlands.
One of the group, 26-year-old Carl Masher, from Liverpool, and 41-year-old Christopher Gow, from Inverness, were arrested after an intelligence-led police operation and they appeared for sentence at Inverness Sheriff Court.
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There had been several attempts to get a background report on the Merseyside man and one was finally submitted to Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald who jailed him for 21 months, backdated to August 13, his date of remand.
Gow was placed under three years of social work supervision as Sheriff Macdonald deemed him “in a different situation” from his co-accused.
The court was told that Masher did not co-operate fully with the social worker tasked with writing the report by failing to explain how and why he got involved in the illegal enterprise.
His agent, solicitor advocate Mike Chapman said: “But he has not tried to blame anyone else for this and it is accepted by him that there will be a custodial sentence.”
The court then heard from Gow’s solicitor advocate Clare Russell, who said of her client: “He has a myriad of mental health problems which led to a heroin addiction and this underpins this offence. But he is now stabilised on medication. He is a vulnerable man and was exploited by others.”
Sheriff Macdonald accepted that Gow had been taken advantage of by Masher and others and told him: “I consider you were vulnerable but also foolish.”
At a previous court hearing, fiscal depute David Morton detailed the sophistication of the drug dealing system used by the gang to bring heroin and cocaine to Inverness, Nairn and Aviemore.
He also explained how intelligence gathering and tracking of mobile phones by police played a vital role in trapping the pushers.
Mr Morton told Sheriff Macdonald that as far back as September 2019, the organised crime group was seen to operate in and around Inverness selling heroin and cocaine.
On March 9, 2021 police received intelligence that a vehicle containing members of Scouse Jack was travelling up the A9 to Inverness and was “potentially carrying drugs”.
The vehicle was stopped by road policing officers near Kingussie, and Masher and another person were inside having travelled from Liverpool.
Mr Morton said: “The group operated a dealing line whereby customers would text the line seeking to purchase drugs. Messages would be exchanged giving the places and process required for obtaining the drugs.”
He added that the dealing line would also message to advise customers when they were “open for business” in and around Inverness.
“Messages would be sent in bulk to numerous people at a time,” said Mr Morton, with various handsets being used to operate the Scouse Jack dealing line, with drug telecommunications continuing on an almost daily basis.
Sheriff Macdonald was told that the crime group at that time used Gow who was a drug user.
Mr Morton said: “Gow was trusted by the group and he trusted them and he would collect money and traffic drugs on their behalf.”
Gow’s address, which was not made publicly available, was kept under surveillance by police and in June 2021 officers raided the premises.
Among the paraphernalia of drug dealing seized was £5460 in cash. It was confiscated by the sheriff.
There were also 111 wraps of heroin in “half gram rock deals” with a street value up to £2310, Mr Morton said.
He added that police recovered a card from the group sent to Gow that read: “Happy Birthday bro. Hope you enjoy your little gift. Ha, ha. Love from the gang. You’re part of the team.”
Both Masher and Gow pleaded guilty on indictment to being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs.