Dealer known as 'CaramelExpress' caught after sending picture of HMRC letter
Following his sentencing, 58 other EncroChat users could now be exposed
A drug dealer was caught after he sent a picture of a HMRC letter to another user on encrypted communications platform EncroChat. Barry Hellewell was known as 'CaramelExpress' on the service, a court has heard.
The 47-year-old used the platform to play a “leading” and “significant” role in supplying and facilitating class A drugs. Liverpool Crown Court heard that he sourced kilo quantities of heroin and cocaine via the messaging service.
Police arrested Hellewell on August 3, 2023, and he was unmasked as the user of the handle "CaramelExpress." Henry Riding, prosecuting, told the court how the dad was linked to the EncroChat handle after sending an image of a letter from HMRC, which included his own address, to another user, Liverpool Echo reports.
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Mr Riding told the court on Monday, September 25: “There was also the nickname ‘Handbag’ used in the messages which was sometimes used by Mr Hellewell. These were typical of such messages as those using them thought they would never be seen.”
Mr Hellewell’s communications evidenced his involvement in the supply of a total of 19kg of cocaine and heroin between March 30, 2020, and June 13, 2020, the court heard. He had 58 other names of EncroChat users on his phone.
During the dates stipulated on his charges, Hellewell was speaking to nine of those users, indicating the “conspiracy was well established” before those dates. Mr Riding also said Hellewell was involved in “brokering” kilos of Class A drugs and was arranging and negotiating for other EncroChat users.
Peter Killen, defending, said: “He is ashamed and can’t believe he went back to his old ways, but he did.” Judge David Swinnerton interjected and told the court Hellewell went back to drug dealing because of “just greed and easy money.”
Mr Killen said Hellewell knew what “lay ahead," which would be spending his 50th birthday in jail and missing out on the teenage years of his daughter. In mitigation, Mr Killen also told the court how a care home manager, who cares for Hellewell's mum who has vascular dementia, said the dad showed "kindness and support" to her.
He added: "This is really different behaviour of the man you have to sentence." Hellewell has an extensive criminal record, including two previous sentences served for supplying heroin, convicted in 2000 and 2013, for which he served 42 months and 52 months respectively.
Judge Swinnerton said Hellewell was "straddling two roles" as he was selling drugs for his financial gain and "trying to get the best price" for other EncroChat users.
In his conclusion, judge Swinnerton said: "You wanted money, and at the time, this was an easy way of getting money. But this is someone else's death; it is misery and families falling apart."
Hellewell, of Woodvale Road in Woolton, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply controlled class A drugs (cocaine and heroin).