Firefighter turned to transporting vast amounts of cocaine to Leeds after life came 'crashing down'

A former firefighter who turned to drugs after suffering a “catastrophic accident” has been jailed for transporting vast amounts of cocaine to Leeds and other major cities.

Simon Thirtle, 46, transported 6kg of the Class A drug to a man who worked at a takeaway in Harehills and was found to have helped distribute at least 50kg of cocaine across the country.

Thirtle had won a bravery award while in the fire service and was an “upstanding member of the community” until he suffered a fall that led to him having to take early retirement due to PTSD.

He also became addicted to painkillers, which is when he turned to illegal activity in a desperate ploy to pay his mortgage.

Thirtle was sentenced for two counts of being involved in the supply of Class A drugs at Leeds Crown Court on Friday.

The judge sentencing him, Mr Recorder T Watkin, said: “To see somebody with your background in crown court and in the dock today is a very sad situation indeed.”

For the prosecution, Robert Stevenson said that Thirtle, of Woodland Road in Darlington, travelled to Merseyside in the early hours of April 7, 2021, in a van before driving to Shai Nan Kebab on Roundhay Road, and dropping off 6kg of “high quality cocaine” with a purity of 91 per cent and street value of £4,000.

Armed police raided the kebab shop after Thirtle had left and arrested Shezan Ali, who was jailed for ten-and-a-half years later in the year.

Police arrested Thirtle in Darlington in October after tracing his car using an ANPR camera and confiscated his phone, which included evidence that he had arranged to drop off large amounts of cocaine in separate deliveries to Manchester, London and Coventry.

Mr Recorder Watkin said: “These messages are not indicative of someone dabbling but of someone immersed in the world of drug dealing.”

Thirtle’s DNA was also found on the bag of drugs that he transported to Harehills.

Mr Stevenson said that Thirtle only looked to make £300 for each of the deliveries, which Mr Recorder Watkin said he was “rather sceptical” of.

Thirtle pleaded guilty to the two charges on the first scheduled day of the trial. It was heard that he has previous convictions of possession of cocaine and MDMA and of assaulting an emergency worker.

For the defence, Stuart Duke said that Thirtle’s life came “crashing down” following an accident while on a leisure trip. He said: “This is a horrible sentencing exercise. It’s extremely difficult.

“He knows he’s going to prison for a significant period. There’s no arguing or quibble about that.”

He said that after Thirtle became addicted to the painkiller tramadol he was “exploited” and that he turned to making money so that he could pay off the mortgage of his home and “fund his own habit”.

Mr Duke said: “They (drug dealers) don’t do it themselves. They employ useful idiots like Mr Thirtle and at that stage of his life he was willing to do it.

“He was of limited function at the time. He needed the money and accepted the invitation to do that.”

Mr Duke said that in the last two years Thirtle had become clean from drugs and was volunteering with the Samaritans and also offering counselling services to other addicts.

He added: “I saw him two years ago and he seemed to be trying anything that moved.

“He now appears to have turned his life around.”

He added: “I simply ask your honour not to crush him and fix a sentence that will give him some hope.”

A probation officer also gave her findings from meeting Thirtle, saying that he has “complex PTSD” and “serious physical issues”. She said that he did not know what was in the packages he was delivering and was “told not to ask”.

She said: “At the time he didn’t see the risks. Now he sees that it was a crazy decision.”

She also said that Thirtle spent a “period of time homeless” after losing his home but that he was now in a council property where he is supported by his 15-year-old son, who is a “positive and protective factor in his life”.

Sentencing Thirtle, Mr Recorder Watkin said: “To see somebody with your background in crown court and in the dock today is a very sad situation indeed.

“However, I remind myself of the scourge that these drugs are and the problems they bring in to our communities.

“Involving yourself in this pernicious industry was wrong.”

Thirtle was jailed for six years and three months, of which he will serve half before being released on remand.