Man who oversaw vast drug supply operation in Cumbria jailed

Along with an influential partner-in-crime, Simon Buller, 46, headed up an organised crime gang (OCG) which imported and delivered hundreds of kilos of cocaine during a “truly massive” 15-month conspiracy.

The geographical reach, Carlisle Crown Court heard, was “extremely wide” and saw vast sums of the class A substance transported by couriers to towns and cities right across the British mainland.

Evidence pointed to Buller, of Freshfield Avenue, Atherton — the right hand man of Andrew Stephens — taking on a high role in a huge dealing network dubbed “Amazon-style” by prosecutor Tim Evans in terms of its organisation and commerciality.

“Dealing with drugs seized and quantities referred to in messaging, the crown say Simon Buller and Andrew Stephens can be reliably estimated as supplying 230kg during the conspiracy period,” said Mr Evans.

“Both are directing or organising buying and selling on a large commercial scale.”

Buller sent postcodes to couriers whose progress he closely monitored, was aware of drug quantities being imported and collected, and safe house locations. Buller was also linked to a second OCG.

“The Crown say that he and Andrew Stephens were working at as high a level as UK operatives — as opposed to importers or cartel members — really could operate,” Mr Evans told the court.

Cocaine potentially worth up to £53million on the street was trafficked during the plot. This was blown apart after Cumbria police discovered a 1kg drug consignment in Bowness-on-Windermere during February, 2023. Stashes had been stored in a Lakes lock-up by a Cumbrian regional retailer.

It prompted officers to seize the phones of three other key players operating lower down the chain of command. And during what became Cumbria’s largest ever drug investigation, a mammoth amount of damning evidence — including WhatsApp group message chats — was amassed which revealed the involvement of more than a dozen other people.

Earlier this year, nine men were sentenced to jail terms totalling more than 100 years for their roles in the illegal enterprise. Stephens, now 42, of East Field Drive, Golborne, was handed a 20-year sentence.

Buller, who also admitted conspiracy to supply the class A substance, was punished today and received a total term of 15 years and two months.

'There were financial difficulties'

In a letter penned by married dad Buller to the court, he expressed remorse.

“Not for his own sake,” barrister Nicholas Clarke KC pointed out. “He appreciates he is in custody and will be in custody for some time. It is the ramification which his actions and his incarceration has had on those who are completely blameless; particularly his children and his wife.”

Of the criminal enterprise, Mr Clarke said: “Mr Buller was not the spark or genesis of this conspiracy. He became involved a little later in it because of the role of others: those who he knew by association in the building trade and others.

“He certainly wasn’t at the top table at the inception of this particular conspiracy.”

Buller was a self-employed scaffolder at the time of his arrest. “There were financial difficulties. That was the other reason he became involved in this conspiracy,” said Mr Clarke.

He asked for Buller’s role in criminal conduct to be viewed thus: “As a one-off, a deviation, for this man, who is determined to get out of prison and return to his family and working life as soon as is practicable.”

'Addiction ruins lives'

Judge Nicholas Barker told Buller on Tuesday, as he had told co-conspirators: “It is the daily diet of these courts to deal with the outcome of drug dealing and drug use. That is: addiction which ruins lives, destroys relationships, causes death. It is the activity which drives other criminal activity through theft, robbery and burglary; and, often, lying in the background, violence and disorder.

“That is why drugs and particularly class A drugs are illegal. That is why dealing in them receives such condign and significant sentences. That is why those who do so on a large scale can expect to see long sentences.

“But this is no surprise to you. You knew this when you set out on your drugs supply activity. You took the risk for the rewards of profit without a care for the illegality and the misery which would be left further down the line.”

Noting the potential value of the drugs trafficked during the plot and concluding that Buller had played a “leading role”, Judge Barker concluded: “The opportunity for gain was massive.”

Handing down punishment to Buller, the judge said he would receive discount for his guilty plea, good progress made in custody on remand and a “life well lived” before he became involved in criminal activity.

Buller was also made subject to a serious crime prevention order, which will impose strict restrictions on his liberty for five years when he is released from custody.