A Huddersfield man is due to be sentenced today (Tues) for his part in a drugs gang which was headed by a rogue police officer.
Christopher King, 49, of Bowling Green Court, Longwood, provided the cannabis plants which were grown at a ‘drugs farm’ which flooded the streets of Manchester and north Wales with the class B drug.
A serving police officer who ‘revelled’ in his double life as the head of the gang posed with a Breaking Bad Walter White t-shirt at his secret cannabis farms, a court heard. Pc Daniel Aimson, 36, was at the head of a conspiracy.
He also stole the identity of an unsuspecting member of the public, taking the man’s driving licence after stopping the motorist and using it to lease one of the premises used as a cannabis farm.
To the wider public, the two drug factories, based at commercial premises in Railway Road, Leigh, were a newsagents and a lettings firm.
But when police raided the buildings, they found sophisticated cannabis farms with 165 plants across the two sites, potentially worth more than £84,000, it was said.
Aimson was sacked by Greater Manchester Police in February after admitting his part in the conspiracy.
He and his ‘right hand man’ Hussein Mozahem, 25, who Aimson had met at a gym, had plans to expand the business and had conducted cannabis grows there previously, a Manchester Crown Court sentencing hearing was told.
After receiving intelligence, officers launched a surveillance operation, monitoring comings and goings on Railway Road in the weeks before their raid.
It was during their investigation that Aimson was seen wearing the T-shirt referencing the hit show.
Prosecutor Owen Edwards said: “He (Aimson) was seen at various stages on his own CCTV hard drive to wear a T-shirt depicting the lead character Walt in the hit TV series called Breaking Bad.
“The character plays a respectable chemistry teacher who adopts a professional approach to the production and distribution of the drug crystal meth and becomes in the process a highly successful drug dealer.
“In his various text messages it is clear that Aimson revelled in his double life as officer and criminal.”
The court heard that Aimson, Mozahem and a man called George Parkinson were involved in a WhatsApp group in which Aimson said: “Proper shift that today. Top effort.”
Aimson was on sick leave from GMP during his offending.
Mr Edwards said that between January 2015 and June last year, Aimson and seven other defendants were involved in the production of cannabis on a commercial scale.
Both of the Railway Road sites were initially leased out legitimately by Richard Grady, 31, on behalf of his company Morgan and Co, with one being used as the company’s base.
The court heard that as the business began to struggle, Grady allowed Aimson, who is married to Grady’s sister, to take over the building.
Aimson told Grady that a ‘friend’ wanted the building.
In reality the ‘friend’ did not exist, and Aimson was using the identity of the man whose driving licence he had confiscated following a routine spot check in 2013 because it had expired.
Aimson also tried to set up a bank account in the man’s name, but it was blocked due to discrepancies.
Mr Edwards said Grady later became aware of what was actually happening in the buildings but went along with it.
There were ‘sophisticated’ set ups in both cannabis farms, with 600 watt high energy lamps, an industrial odour neutraliser to mask smells, black out blinds as well as digital temperature and humidity monitoring, the court heard.
According to prosecutors, Michael Hutton, 53, another brother-in-law to Aimson, provided the criminal links needed to sell the drugs.
Hutton was linked to Steven Hindley, 27, who is said to have purchased wholesale amounts of cannabis from Hutton on behalf of a more senior criminal in North Wales.
Jonathon Vaiders, 28, was said to be responsible for preparing and selling cannabis in Manchester, as well as selling his own supply of cocaine on the side.
George Parkinson, 30, worked to maintain the cannabis farms and Christopher King, 49, provided cannabis plants to grow.
Defending Aimson, Martin Callery said his client does not accept that he ‘revelled’ in his double life.
“He does not accept that he assumed some sort of fictional double life modelled on some television character,” Mr Callery said.
Mr Callery said that Aimson’s policing career had been ‘blighted’ by three serious road traffic accidents that happened while on duty.
In one of the incidents he only returned to work fully four years after the crash.
During Tuesday's hearing, Martin Callery, said he wished to correct a matter from his mitigation on Monday. The court was yesterday told that the three road traffic accidents that Aimson was involved in as a serving police officer were not his fault. But now Mr Callery says that in fact Aimson was prosecuted and convicted for careless driving for one of the incidents.
He was sentenced to an absolute discharge, but still maintains his innocence.
Aimson, who joined GMP in 2002 after graduating from university, is having a “very difficult time of it” in prison as a former police officer, Mr Callery said.
Aimson, of Ullswater Road, Astley, Wigan; Grady, of Park Road, Leigh; Hutton, of Pollard Street, Ancoats; King, of Bowling Green Court, Huddersfield; Mozahem, of Findlay Street, Leigh; Parkinson, of Ullswater Street, Leigh, and Vaiders, of Jaffrey Street, Leigh, have all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce cannabis.
Hindley, of Maesgwyn, Rhyl, North Wales, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis.
Aimson also admitted misconduct in a public office.
Hutton has also admitted possession of amphetamine with intent to supply and Vaiders has pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply.
All eight men are being sentenced this morning. For the latest updates on sentencing in this case, follow our live blog here .
