Prisoner caught with gun down his trousers then tried to sell coke to cop
An absconded prisoner was caught with a 'lethal weapon down his trousers' then tried to sell 'super strength' coke to police.
Paul Gallagher, who was on the run for nearly two years, was caught with a gun down his trousers in a taxi before trying to broker a cocaine deal with undercover police in Dixy Chicken. Gallagher walked out of jail with less than a year left to serve on his sentence and was found 22 months later in a pub with only a toothbrush and £6 cash on him.
Gallagher was handed five years in 2011 after a routine stop of a taxi led to the delivery of a gun and ammunition being halted, the Liverpool Echo reports. He was a passenger in the vehicle and tried to give a fake name when Matrix officers stopped the vehicle on Suffield Road in Kirkdale shortly before midnight
Gallagher was said to have "appeared nervous" and was seen adjusting the waistband of his trousers and "trying to distract the officers". David Evans, prosecuting, described how it was then discovered when he was conveyed into custody that his pants were "holding a lethal weapon".
Liverpool Crown Court (Liverpool Echo)Defence counsel Desmond Lennon told the court that his client had been "given little option but to deliver the weapon because of drugs debts". Gallagher, then of Swindon Road in Kirkdale, was locked up after admitting possession of a prohibited weapon and ammunition. Having been released in December 2013, he then found himself back in court again in 2020. By now aged 35, he was part of a gang who sold "super strength" 93% cocaine, as well as heroin with a purity of 59%, to undercover police.
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Operation Finberry saw £21,000 of cocaine, £98,000 of heroin and £200,000 of cannabis recovered between 2014 and 2015. But Gallagher, who told a covert officer that he could source kilos of cocaine and heroin during a meeting at Dixy Chicken on Smithdown Road, was not apprehended until years later.
And when finally caught in Liverpool city centre on Valentine's Day in 2020, he claimed that he did not recall his past actions and insisted under interview: "I don't deal in anything unlawful. I'm a lawful man." Gallagher, by now of Kestrel Dene in Fazakerley, added: "I've been smoking pot for 20 years. My memory is f***ed. I've never, ever supplied drugs. It's not my thing."
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he and other gang members were ensnared by an undercover officer, codenamed "Raj". Nicola Daley, prosecuting, outlined how Gallagher claimed over the phone that he could do "3oz at 9 each" - three ounces of heroin for £2,700 - which could be "one and one", or bulked out by 100%.
He subsequently directed a courier to supply the secret PC with drugs. The officer handed over £1,500 for 28.5g of cocaine, which had a purity of 79% and was valued at up to £2,850.
Gallagher and Raj then met at the chicken shop, when the former spoke of being able to supply a kilo of cocaine for £41,000 and priced kilos of heroin at £21,000 apiece. Another of his deliveries consisted of 27.8g of 55% pure cocaine, worth £2,780.
Following a series of raids targeting the organised crime group, police visited his parents' homes and that of a sibling but were unable to trace him. A public appeal over his whereabouts in 2018 yielded no results, and he remained at large until the early part of this decade.
Gallagher, who was described as having a "managerial function", later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine. He accepted having met Raj at Dixy Chicken but said he had done so as he "went down to rob him" when he "came down to buy a kilo of lemo", and also claimed to have amnesia and memory loss.
Ged Doran, appearing on his behalf on this occasion, said his client's actions were "fairly unsophisticated" and that he had "tried to keep Raj sweet, but failed magnificently". The defence barrister added: "The undercover officer Raj very quickly decides and identifies Mr Gallagher is not a serious drug dealer."
Judge Brian Cummings KC said that Gallagher had been involved in the "brokering" of drug deals and played a "significant role" in the operation. He was jailed for five years and seven months.
The same court heard last week that Gallagher, of no fixed address, had been serving this sentence at HMP Kirkham in Lancashire when he walked out "without lawful authority" on January 13 2022. Having been due for release on licence in December of that year, he "failed to return to complete his sentence".
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Paul Blasbery, prosecuting, described how he would only be arrested shortly after 5pm on November 29 last year in the Font on Arrad Street in Liverpool city centre. The fugitive made no comment under interview, but gave a prepared statement in which he admitted to detectives that he had absconded shortly after the death of his brother Keith and had been "struggling to deal with his passing and his mental health", as well as lockdown measures within the prison.
Gallagher has a total of 12 previous convictions for 30 offences. Rebecca Smith, defending, told the court: "The defendant impulsively walked out of prison and didn't return.
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