'El Capo' Encrochat dealer who ran £26m drug empire thinks his prison sentence is too long
His younger brother was a youth football star at Liverpool before injuries blighted his career
A former builder who ran a £26m drug empire using the encrypted messaging network, EncroChat, has failed in his bid to challenge his prison sentence.
Jonathan Cassidy, who ran the cocaine-running operation alongside his former Liverpool FC starlet brother Jamie, was arrested at Manchester Airport in October 2020.
He had initially fled to Dubai following the takeover of the EncroChat system by European law enforcement in June of that year.
The 50-year-old from Liverpool, who used the name "WhiskyWasp" on the service, boasted in messages that his criminal enterprise was reminiscent of Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.
Whilst watching an episode of the hit Netflix series, Narcos, he sent an image to a friend joking that he and the drug lord shared the same birthday. His friend responded by writing, "coincidence I think f***ing not".
Messages shared between the trio on EncroChat revealed that they had successfully imported cocaine from South America and smuggled it into the UK via Amsterdam hidden in modified vehicles before distributing it across their vast network.
The Liverpool Echo previously reported that the gang imported around £26m worth of the class A drug into the UK.
The cash they made was moved and transferred via various means to launder it, subsequently funding their extravagant lifestyles of big houses, fancy holidays and fast cars.
On one occasion, Jonathan Cassidy sent a photo of something as inconsequential as a box of Panadol.
However, the picture was of sufficient quality that experts could obtain the fingerprint of the person holding the box. It matched Cassidy's prints.
In February 2024, after three years of fighting the admissibility of the EncroChat messages, Cassidy - along with his younger brother and business partner Nasar Ahmed - pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court.
Cassidy was sentenced to 21 years, nine months for conspiracy to import cocaine; conspiracy to supply cocaine; and conspiracy to conceal, transfer and disguise criminal proceeds.
His brother Jamie, an ex-Liverpool FC academy prodigy who was top scorer for England under-16s before injuries blighted his promising career, was sentenced to 13 years and three months.
Ahmed, from Bury, received a custodial sentence of 21 years and nine months.
Last month, Cassidy appeared before London's Court of Appeal in a renewed application for leave to appeal against his sentence.
His challenge, brought before the high court by counsel Michael Bromley-Martin KC, said too low a discount was applied as credit for his guilty plea and the sentencing judge failed to consider exceptional mitigating factors.
However, dismissing his case, the Court of Appeal bench of Lord Justice Fraser, Mr Justice Hilliard and Mr Justice Constable said they were "not persuaded that the resulting sentences are manifestly excessive or reached after an error in principle".
All three judges found the sentencing judge's adjustment to be sufficient and not outside the range that could properly be granted.