Drug-empire boss lived lavish lifestyle in Leeds, buying £247,000 worth of watches
A drug importer who dealt in kilogrammes of cocaine and ketamine splashed his wealth on cars and expensive watches.
Timothy Meerun was jailed at Leeds Crown Court this week a long list of crimes, while his girlfriend escaped with a community order.
Meerun was using the EncroChat network to communicate with others about his drug empire - a once-encrypted system that police were able to secretly hack into in 2020 and expose organised criminals.
The court heard that from 2018, the 35-year-old was dealing in multiple quantities of drugs. They included chats about taking delivery of four kilogrammes of cocaine and 22 kilogrammes of ketamine.
Following an investigation, in 2021 officers executed warrants on several addresses across Leeds and safety deposit boxes in his mother’s name.
Meerun was arrested from an address on Holt Park Way where they found expensive watches and mobile phones. They also found almost half-a-kilogramme of high-purity cocaine.
A Mini Cooper was parked outside that contained a large amount of cash, prosecutor Lydia Pearce told the court.
His girlfriend, 34-year-old Charlie Donoghue, was arrested from another property where they also found 12 cannabis plants growing.
Further watches were found in the safety deposit boxes. The total value of the watches recovered came to £247,000. More than £113,000 in cash was recovered.
Officers found that he had bought an Audi Q5 for more than £27,000, while bank accounts showed large quantities of cash in accounts. More than £31,000 was found in Donoghue’s account.
Meerun, of Holt Park Way, admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine, and ketamine, the production of cannabis, dealing in cannabis, seven counts of possessing criminal property and one of converting criminal property.
He has four previous convictions, two of which are for possessing drugs.
Donoghue, of Broadgate Lane, Horsforth admitted the production of cannabis. She has three previous convictions from when she was a youth.
Mitigating for Meerun, Gerard Doran said he was a father-of-two and suffered from anxiety and depression. He added: “He has acknowledged responsibility for his offending at the earliest opportunity. He has not attempted to downplay responsibility.”
For Donoghue, Daniel Ingham said she had limited previous convictions, there had been no further offending since and she was working at a YMCA. He said she had “limited involvement” in Meerun’s dealings.
The judge, Recorder Ashley Serr, said Meerun was dealing on a “commercial scale”. He jailed him for 10 years and eight months.
He conceded that Donoghue’s involvement was “basically a cannabis gardener”. He gave her a 12-month community order with 150 hours of unpaid work.