Crime gang boss once fined for verbally abusing England rugby coach ran drugs ring from prison | 928Z9D5 | 2024-05-12 06:08:01
A CRIME gang boss once fined for verbally abusing then England rugby coach Eddie Jones ran a major drugs ring from behind bars.
Dale Cleeton, 31, was in HMP Edinburgh having been jailed for almost four years in 2021 after being caught with £220,000 of cocaine.
But, this did not stop him being the "driving force" in a mob who planned to flood the capital and the Lothians with the same class A substance.
Cleeton's right hand man on the outside was Calvin Begbie – later guilty in a separate case of using a drone to try and smuggle cocaine and mobile phones into Saughton nick.
The 30 year-old's uncle Fraser Boyd, 51, was also recruited as well as 24 year-old Mitchel Whyte.
But police snared the gang after two unauthorised phones and sim cards were found on Cleeton while he was in jail.
They revealed incriminating messages and photos which eventually led to all four appearing in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow today.
They each pleaded guilty to a charge of being involved in serious organised crime at a number of addresses in Edinburgh and East Lothian.
Cleeton, Begbie and Boyd were remanded in custody, while Whyte had his bail continued.
Cleeton previously hit the headlines in 2018 after he was fined for yelling foul mouthed insults at Eddie Jones at Manchester's Oxford Road station.
It was the day after Scotland had beaten England at Murrayfield in the Six Nations.
Prosecutor John Macpherson told how Cleeton was the "leading member and driving force" of the crime clan in 2021 and 2022.
He added: "The control and direction he was able to exercise over activities from a prison cell is testament to his organisational skills and attention to detail.
"There was also the level of respect he commanded from those who worked for him."
This included him getting Begbie to send him photographs of large consignments of cocaine "so he could check them".
The gang were raking in so much cash, Cleeton ordered a money counting machine from jail for Begbie to tally their ill-gotten gains.
Cleeton would send Begbie "tick lists" for him to collect money that was owed by others for drugs.
The court heard, at one stage, the mob was making £30,000-a-month profit from the buying and selling of large hauls of cocaine.
But, phones used by Cleeton to run the lucrative operation were seized in HMP Edinburgh.
Begbie was then stopped in his car in June 2022, with bags of cocaine and almost £3,000 among items found in the glovebox.
The class A drug as well as another £5,440 in cash was found in his flat in the capital along with the money counter.
Boyd – who was paid to allow his Edinburgh home to store cocaine – had his flat raided the same day.
He admitted to officers that there was "stuff" in his bedroom.
Whyte was held in March 2022 at his home in East Linton in East Lothian.
Lord Arthurson deferred sentencing for reports until next month on all four.
More >> https://ift.tt/rxNRgd7 Source: MAG NEWS
