A gang stashed drugs and cash in a secret compartment within a van which could only be revealed by activating a hidden switch. Officers discovered nearly £500,000 of cash when they raided the home of couple Ian Shacklady and Gillian Melville. A National Crime Agency investigation revealed the organised crime group, which was led by her son Alan Causer, had been responsible for trafficking hundreds of kilos of heroin and cocaine worth millions of pounds across the country, with its members being locked up for a combined total of more than 50 years. heard this week that the joint probe by the NCA and Merseyside
police led to their house on Marchbank Road in being searched on September 15 2021. Shacklady was present in the address at the time, while his partner Melville was found "sitting in a bed in one of the bedrooms with neatly stacked piles of cash on the bed to one side of her". Henry Riding, prosecuting, described the 66-year-old as having been "caught red handed" with "multiple bags containing large quantities of cash on the floor at her feet" and several elastic bands on her other side. Monies totalling £481,375 were seized from "various locations" around the property. The fingerprints of another conspirator, John Germaine, were found on a number of the bags of cash. Shacklady was subsequently found to have sent him a message five and a half hours prior to the raid, in which he said: "John, can you pick some elastic bands up? "I haven't got any left. Thanks." Four kilos of cannabis with an estimated street value of £40,000 were also discovered, as were two "ledgers" - described as a "meticulous record of their drug dealing activities" which were "consistent with the supply and distribution of at least 360kg of cocaine and 25kg of heroin", as well as the movement of more than £1.4m in cash over the previous few months. Causer's fingerprints were present on these books, with Mr Riding adding: "They indicated that the half a million pounds recovered from Mr Shacklady and Ms Melville's house was, if not just the tip of an iceberg, only a small proportion of the monies generated by the activities of this organised crime group." When officers searched Shacklady's white Peugeot Partner van, which was parked across the street, they found a "fairly sophisticated system" had been installed within the rear of the vehicle below the floorboards. This consisted of a hidden switch in the cupholders which, when pressed, revealed a secret compartment for stashing illicit goods. Automatic number plate recognition cameras meanwhile captured the van "travelling all over the north of England". This included trips to , Manchester, Grimsby, Derby, Nottingham and the Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland and Darlington areas of County Durham. Police then visited Germaine's storage unit on Ringtail Road in on September 28 2021 and found 9kg of "high purity" cocaine. The 35-year-old, of Holt Drive in , previously received nine years and two months in relation to this seizure in May 2022 after being convicted of possession of the class A drug and cannabis with intent to supply and possession of criminal property. A fifth defendant, Daniel Heeley, was identified via surveillance undertaken as part of the operation. The 31-year-old - of Rylstone Drive in Heysham, Lancashire - was known as "Morc" in the gang's ledgers - a reference to the Morecambe area where he was based and had a safehouse. He was shown to have used three different phone numbers between May and September 2021, and was found to have been in contact with Shacklady, Causer and Germaine during 394 calls lasting a total of nearly six hours and 45 minutes. Heeley was said to have been "supplied class A drugs in wholesale, kilogram amounts" by his co-conspirators, with the same van having travelled to the seaside town on 14 occasions. Under interview, Shacklady gave a prepared statement claiming "he had allowed a person who he wasn't prepared to name to store items at his address, believing it was only money" and that he "had no idea there were drugs as well". The 67-year-old also said that Melville "had no involvement in the matter". . He stated that he had been in debt "to the tune of several thousands pounds to persons in
Liverpool connected with someone whose jaw he had broken in a fight in a nightclub" and then "began making drug and cash runs" around May 2021, for which he was paid £150 a time and saw him travel as far afield as Portsmouth. "Leading light" Causer, of Sherrat Street in , meanwhile gave no comment to detectives. When interviewed, his mum said none of the seized cash was hers - other than £6,000 located within her handbag and £11,400 in another bag, which she described as being her "life savings". Healey told police he had "frequently changed his phone number because he and his wife had an on off relationship", and she had been "jealous that he was seeing a girlfriend". He added he had "previously used drugs including cocaine and ecstasy on a night out" but "denied any involvement in the supply of drugs". When shown pictures of co-defendants, he stated he did not recognise Shacklady, Melville or Germaine but identified Causer - who is also known as Alan Melville - as "Melv or Merv", and said he had purchased an Audi A7 from him in June 2021 for £8,500 in cash. Heely said he had originally met the 45-year-old at Catts Gym in Orrell, Wigan, which he "occasionally attended". Shacklady has a total of four previous for seven offences, including receiving 33 months for conspiracy to supply cocaine in October 2022 in relation to "EncroChat material". Julian Nutter, defending, told the court on his behalf: "You can see his age, and time in
prison for him is a different experience than for younger men. "He does not appear to have been the stockholder in the enterprise. He is a relatively simply man, and he was recruited for his driving skills." Nick Cockrell, representing dad-of-three Germaine, meanwhile said: "Since he has been in custody, he has essentially been nothing short of a model prisoner - he has used his time constructively to date, and will continue to do so. He is remorseful for his offending." Causer has two previous convictions for two offences in 1995 and 2009. His counsel Charles Lander said: "Mr Causer is under no illusion that he is going to receive a significant custodial sentence. "Even if the court views him as the head of the defendants in the dock, that is still different to being the head of the chain of the organised crime group. These people are often the people who do not live in this county and who stay away. "They have their human tentacles outside. Those at the very top would not be attending the scenes of deliveries - those people at the very top distance themselves from that. Do they store large amount of money at a family home? They do not. "It is not said that he was living an extravagant lifestyle. He is not jetting off anywhere, and there is no evidence of him living a luxurious lifestyle. It might support that there was a spiral in this defendant's life, the breakdown of this defendant's marriage. "He is someone who had a good work record and who worked for many years. There are references that speak well of him - it is a surprise to them that he got involved in criminality of this level." Melville, who used the assistance of a walker in court, has no previous convictions. Stuart Nolan said on her behalf: "It certainly was not motivated by personal gain and is certainly a one-off offence with little to no planning. "She was fundamentally of hitherto good character. She is quite frail. She has regularly been admitted to hospital. Due to her mental health, she has been vulnerable for some time. "Her physical health has been deteriorating for some time. She is a frail woman facing a custodial sentence which she views with great trepidation." Heeley's criminal record shows three entries for four offences between 2007 and 2011. Ian Morris, defending the father-of-six, told the court: "His involvement in this activity was during a period of personal turmoil. He is keen to express his remorse. Clearly, with hindsight, he should never have been involved in this in the first place. "He has had time to regret his actions. He not only apologises to the court, but is deeply anxious about the loss that he has caused to his family. "His loss will be great when he is deprived of the time he could have spent with them. He has to accept the consequences of his guilt." Shacklady admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine, possession of criminal property and possession of cannabis. He was jailed for 10-and-a-half years. Germaine and Causer pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine and possession of criminal property. They received 11 years and eight months and 18 years respectively. Heeley admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine. He was imprisoned for 15 years and three months. Melville pleaded guilty to possession of criminal property. She received a 23-month imprisonment suspended for 18 months, plus a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 15 days and a 12-month mental health treatment requirement. Sentencing on Wednesday, Judge Denis Watson KC said: "This was a very active and high volume business that was being run as a business focussing on the supply of high quality cocaine, and on occasion heroin as well. It supplied to a wide variety of geographical locations. "This business had been flourishing over a period of three-and-a-half months. The quantities in the ledgers demonstrate that this was a major operation, even by the scale of recent EncroChat cases." The judge told Causer: "You were organising and directing the buying and selling of drugs on a commercial scale. Those were, in reality, your ledgers which revealed an insight into the tenure and productivity of the conspiracy." Turning to Melville, Judge Watson said: "You must have known exactly what was going on. Your son kept his ledgers at your home and he kept the ill-gotten gains at your address too. "You knew precisely what your partner and son were up to and how long they had been doing it. Even though you were involved on one day, it is not overstating it to say that you did not have to be asked twice - you acted with your eyes open. "You are someone of good character. You have poor health to say the very least. "You are, it seems, blind in one eye. You have COPD, you have sciatica, you have had multiple heart surgeries and your mental health is suffering as well." Causer hugged and kiss his mum in the dock before being led to the cells. He also told his supporters in the public gallery: "See yous soon." Richard Harrison, the NCA's regional head of investigations north, said following the sentencing: "This was a significant crime group that, according to its own records, was trading in class A drugs worth millions of pounds. These criminals think nothing of the harm that the class A drugs trade brings to communities in the north west and all around the country. "The NCA and Merseyside Police will continue to employ every possible tactic to target and disrupt organised crime groups and ensure their members face justice."