Jail for cocaine dealing Mr Big who boasted of making thousands on EncroChat phone chats

But Malachi Charles’ true intention in smashing through the front door with a breeze block was unmasked months later when French police cracked encrypted messages between the 40-year-old and a criminal known only by his moniker ‘Wasps Pirate’.

Oxford Crown Court heard that after he was charged with perverting the course of justice in June 2020 for breaking into dealer Thomas Webb’s Oxford home 10 months earlier, BMW plant worker Charles sent ‘Wasps Pirate’ a picture of his charge sheet.

The messages, sent via heavily-encrypted ‘EncroChat’ phones, also revealed Charles was involved in supplying tens of thousands of pounds-worth of cocaine – with dreams of dealing up to 10kg of the class A drug every week.

Jailing him for 12 years and three months for perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to supply class A drugs, Judge Michael Gledhill QC said: “I take a very grave view of people such as yourself - even working under the direction of somebody else – so blatantly and grossly interfering in the course of a police investigation and perverting public justice.”

Broadfields, Oxford, where Malachi Charles broke into Thomas Webb's home Picture: OM

Prosecutor Robert Forrest earlier told the judge that Webb, who was jailed for eight years in January, had been pulled over in Cowley on September 16, 2019. Inside his car was a remote-controlled secret compartment in which he’d stashed a kilo of ketamine.

Within 40 minutes of his arrest, Charles was at Webb’s home in Broadfields, Oxford. Initially he opened a neighbour’s door and apologised before asking if she could let him in to Webb’s house. She refused, then heard as Charles used a breeze block to smash a hole in the dealer’s plastic front door.

When police arrived the kitchen had been ransacked, with an obvious space in one cupboard where an item appeared to have been removed. Mr Forrest said it was supposed the missing item was drugs, although Charles’ barrister said he’d been tasked to remove cash from the house. Later, police found electronic cash counters and debtor lists showing transactions worth thousands of pounds at the house.

Blood left at the house led detectives to Charles, who in an interview in January 2020 gave a prepared statement claiming he’d been asked to do some work at the property previously and had returned when he realised he’d left his keys at the house.

That was later unmasked as a lie when French police passed the UK authorities details of encrypted conversations between Charles and other criminals.

Charles – using the username ‘Satin Seal’ – sent a picture of his charge sheet for the perverting the course of justice and possession of cannabis allegations to ‘Wasps Pirate’ in early June after the document was delivered to his home by a detective.

Malachi Charles' mugshot Picture: SEROCU

Charles said ‘f*** the weed charge, that’s nothing’ and said his solicitor had advised him he could face between four months and three years in prison for perverting the course of justice. He appeared confident, telling Wasps Pirate: “No one saw me leave [Webb’s house] with anything so it should be cool.”

The other man, who appeared to be higher-up the chain, was seen arranging a meeting between Charles and Webb to make sure their story was ‘100 per cent correct’. He promised the compromised Charles: “I’ll look after you big time, mate. Whether you go guilty or not guilty, mate.”

The messages also showed Charles, as Satin Seal, apparently going into business with another EncroChat user ‘Natural Royal’ to deal wholesale amounts of cocaine. He put Natural Royal in touch with importer ‘Useful Mind’. Another EncroChat user, who featured in the messages and who had adopted the name of The Streets rapper ‘Mike Skinner’, was said to be above Charles in the pecking order.

Natural Royal told Charles of his ambition to put in orders for 10kg of cocaine a week. They talked about where they could warehouse the cocaine, with Charles saying he knew a 20-year-old woman who could do it. They concluded they would ‘need someone middle aged who will appreciate cash for storing drugs’.

In messages between Charles and the crime gang’s banker ‘Living Mint’, who was storing the men’s cash, he pretended to upbraid her for buying two money safes on Amazon – but added: “I’m joking, these [EncroChat] phones are so secure.”

He boasted to Living Mint of making as much from his drugs business in a week from as he did in a month at his £30,000-a year BMW plant job. He told her he made £2,000 a week from drugs, including from four ‘drivers’ each bringing in £250 a week and a ‘safe house’ worth £250 a week.

Mitigating, Michael Neofytou said those boasts had been ‘no more than bravado’. His client and ‘Natural Royal’ had dealt a kilo of cocaine but had only ambitions to sell more. “There is often much big talk among those within an enterprise of this nature. The reality is different as this case has shown.”

Charles was a family man who had gone straight after a two year prison sentence for drug dealing in the mid-2000s. He was remorseful and had admitted his guilt.

Mr Neofytou said: “Used as he was to break into that house to retrieve the cash following the arrest of another, he found himself being presented with an opportunity. The old demons, the old temptations crept back in and he – by his plea – accepts he failed. He now carries that weight for the term you will sentence him to.”

Charles, of Bartsia Road, Bicester, pleaded guilty at earlier hearings to conspiracy to supply class A drugs and perverting the course of justice.

Malachi Charles and Thomas Webb Pictures: SEROCU

Judge Gledhill jailed him for eight years for the conspiracy charge and added four years and three months for perverting the course of justice.

He said: “When you went round to Webb’s address that day you were well aware in my view that he was seriously involved in class A drug supply.

“You were well aware he had been arrested and you were quite content to follow the instructions you had been given to remove either the cash or the drugs – and that’s exactly what you did.”

The judge described Charles’ claim he’d been there to retrieve his keys as a ‘complete made up explanation’.

The defendant was given a five year serious crime prevention order, designed to control his access to mobile phones and cash.

Welcoming the sentence, Det Con Tim Blanche of the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit said: “This case demonstrates our commitment to targeting those involved in the supply of class A drugs in the communities of the south east and beyond.

“Charles was involved in a conspiracy to supply cocaine to our communities. The ripples of drug supply and its associated criminality are far-reaching and cause extensive harm. Charles also attended the home of a person we had arrested in an unsuccessful attempt to remove material of interest to the police officers carrying out the investigation.

“If you have concerns about the supply of drugs in your community, it is crucial you report this to your local police force. The information you have could be vital to ensuring we can continue to keep our communities a safe place to live.”

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