Drug trafficker identified through burglary report

Police have caught a major drug dealer after matching details on an encrypted phone network to a burglary crime report where he was the victim.

Jack Penman, 25, is facing more than eight years behind bars after Bedfordshire Police was able to link his Encrochat device to an aggravated burglary in March 2020 at his home in Luton.

The burglars forced entry into Penman's home, left him with several serious injuries and also stole his Audi S3 he had purchased a month prior, an expensive watch, his phone and his partner's Balenciaga trainers.

Penman was dragged out of his home and the attackers attempted to put him in the boot of his car, but someone in the area saw it and reported it to the police, causing the burglars to flee.

With his conventional phone stolen, Penman known as 'Paleblade' took to his Encrochat device and messaged an associate about who was behind the attack and what they took.

Bedfordshire Police's Operation Costello investigators were able to link these details from the Encrochat messages to the crime report on the force's systems.

They also used mobile phone data to show that Penman's Encrochat device was consistently in the same place as his mobile phone before it was stolen.

Between 29 March and 5 May 2020 Penman exchanged messages and photos with other Encrochat users, negotiating wholesale prices of cocaine blocks.

In a specific conversation between Penman and a buyer, he agreed to a price of £19,500 for half a kilo of cocaine.

Interactions between Penman and convicted drug dealers on the Encrochat platform were also found by Costello.

Penman, of Furze Close, Luton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A cocaine. He was sentenced on Thursday 14 September to eight years and three months and handed a two-year serious crime prevention order to run at the end of his sentence.

The sentencing judge deemed Penman to have a leading role in a drugs conspiracy and said that "drug trafficking was peddling in misery".

Gary Hales, an investigation officer for Operation Costello, said: "The unacceptable scenes that unfolded during this incident sound like the kind of thing people would only usually watch in an episode of Top Boy.

"Drugs are a dangerous game. No-one truly wins, and it affects everyone. Penman was targeted in his home by gang rivals guised as burglars and violently assaulted. He knew them, and they knew him.

"Drugs and violence go hand in hand, and we have seen lives tragically lost to them. The simple truth is that getting involved in drug dealing to this extent leaves you at serious risk of serious harm or spending a significant amount of time behind bars.

"To stop the violence, we must stop the root cause – the drugs. Support us and report drug dealing."

Anyone with any information can report via beds.police.uk/ro/report or by calling 101.

All this information is fed into police intelligence systems and helps officers build up a picture of serious and organised crime.