The head of a “highly sophisticated” drugs gang who paid his daughter’s private school fees in cash and gambled more than £2m at bookmakers, has been jailed for nearly 19 years.
Gregory Bell, 43, owned 34 properties, mostly in east Manchester, as well as two villas in Spain while living in an upmarket rented flat in the Cheshire village of Prestbury, costing £2,200 per month.
He paid his daughter’s private school fees in cash, leaving envelopes of notes with the receptionist, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Bell, of Scottmount, Prestbury, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to money laundering and conspiracy to supply cocaine, diamorphine, ecstasy, ketamine, amphetamine and cannabis.
He and his gang used the encrypted messaging system, Encrochat, to protect their illegal activities, where Bell was known as “boss” and “gaffer” and had handles of Castlesnail, Radiorhino and Wonkyfrog.
Encrochat had been thought to be a safe way for criminals to communicate but police were able to access messages from Bell’s encrypted phone after French and Dutch authorities cracked the system early in 2020.
Prosecutor David Temkin KC said Bell was the head of a “highly sophisticated” organised criminal groups (OCG) which sent large amounts of drugs to other major suppliers and OCGs across the UK.
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Drugs were stored at two “safe houses” – in Alderley Edge and Bury – from where couriers collected orders which they delivered in vehicles fitted with secret compartments, the court was told.
Bell was fond of designer clothing and had more than £70,000-worth at his home address, along with other lavish and expensive items.
He was also a long-time gambling addict, “spending tens of thousands of pounds at various casinos”, Mr Temkin said.
Detectives discovered he had gambled around £2.2m at Ladbrokes and Betfred, winning back more than £1.8m.
Colin Aylott KC, defending, said Bell, who had no previous convictions, had been on remand for more than five years, including during the COVID pandemic, and due to health reasons had found his time in prison “difficult to bear”.
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But he said Bell had “taken enormous steps forward in custody” with his volunteer work as a listener for The Samaritans which said he had “worked tirelessly to support some very emotionally troubled individuals”.
Also on Monday, Bell’s close associate, Ian Ogden, 46, of Helmshore Road, Haslingden, was jailed for 16 years and eight months, after he admitted the same offences as his boss.
A “major customer” of the enterprise, Paul Brown, 51, of Leicester Road, Failsworth, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine, ketamine, amphetamine and cannabis.
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Following sentencing, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Detective Inspector Richard Castley, from its serious organised crime division, said Bell ran “a criminal enterprise that reached into every corner of the UK”.
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DI Castley added: “He operated like a CEO using encrypted phones, spoofed identities, and a network of couriers and safe houses to move vast quantities of drugs and launder millions of pounds.
“The scale of Bell’s operation was staggering, from the volume of drugs being moved to the number of properties he acquired through criminal proceeds.”
Five other members of the gang were jailed for a total of 58 years in July.
