'Catch Me If You Can' drug trafficker spent 17 years on the run
A drug dealer has been locked up after spending 17 years on the run in Europe. Joseph Morley, who used the name "Indelible Osprey" on the secret EncroChat platform, moved large amounts of cocaine and cannabis around the UK while living abroad. But the granddad was then caught by police in his Audi after a sting operation in Liverpool after returning to the country.
Morley was previously called a "Catch Me If You Can" drug trafficker who enjoyed a luxury cruise when he was meant to be in prison. In December 2020, it was reported that Morley had "spent 17 of the last 20 years on the run across Europe", travelling to France, Italy, Spain and Portugal while being wanted.
In 1995, he was jailed for 15 years for planning to bring heroin and cocaine into the UK through Manchester Airport. He acted as the "banker" for a gang who used fake names, addresses and passports. Police found £6,000 in cash when they searched his home on Lydiate Park in Thornton.
In May 2000, Morley did not return to HMP Kirkham in Lancashire after being allowed out for the day. He only had 20 months left to serve of his sentence at the time.
Prosecutor Matthew Conway told Liverpool Crown Court that Morley had managed to get a British passport under his birth name, Joseph Williams, just a month after he ran away. In October 2003, he got another passport, this time pretending to be Joseph James Cowling from London, using a fake birth certificate.
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People thought he was hiding in Costa Del Sol, and in September 2009, Crimestoppers named him as one of Britain's 10 most wanted criminals. But then, in January 2010, police caught him during a routine traffic stop in Crosby, after he flew back from Amsterdam using the fake Williams passport.
He ended up spending four months in jail after admitting he broke the rules about being in custody. He went back to HMP Sudbury in Derbyshire, but was let out on licence in February 2012.
Morley left the country again in July 2013, but was recalled on licence. In July 2015, he got another fake passport, this time pretending to be Kevin Parry from London, by renewing a passport that was issued in unknown circumstances in March 2003.
The National Crime Agency started a new search for him in 2016 and looked at the Facebook pages of people he knew. They found photos of him in Naples in Italy, Cannes and Marseilles in France and Loule in Portugal. Using a fake document, Morley went on a week-long trip to Barcelona with Norwegian Cruise Lines in August 2016 with two friends.
Mr Conway said they didn't know how much this cruise cost, but £2,500 had been put into the account of their cabin. He then left Barcelona for Portugal before trying to renew the Williams passport in September 2017.
But when the HM Passport Office wrote to Morley in December asking him to arrange an appointment, he didn't reply. Earlier in 2020, he had asked for another passport in his own name before travelling from Faro in Portugal to John Lennon Airport on November 5 - when he was arrested.
Morley subsequently admitted remaining unlawfully at large after recall to prison and three counts of making a false instrument. Louise Santamera, defending on this occasion, told the court that her client had only been wanted on a 28-day prison recall in 2013.
She said: "The prosecution opening suggested that he has been at large for 17 years. That is not true - he was arrested in 2010 and he has been punished for that by way of a four-month sentence."
But Judge David Swinnerton said that, while Morley had already been sentenced for his 10 years as a fugitive, 17 years was the correct total. He added: "For 17 years, he has spent living his life in Europe when he could have been spending at least some of that in prison in Britain."
Ms Santamera told the court that the Williams and Cowling passports "could and should have been investigated" when Morley was caught in 2010 using the name Williams. However, the judge responded that the NCA had been investigating his passport fraud since 2016, but he stayed abroad until a month before the hearing.
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Morley's lawyer explained that he first ran away in 2000 because his mum was diagnosed with cancer, and he has regretted his actions ever since as he wasn't there when his mother died and also missed her funeral. Ms Santamera added that Morley met his partner, had a daughter and tried to start a new life in Spain but was always worried about being caught.
When his dad was diagnosed with cancer, he didn't want to feel guilty again and came back home to look after him. She suggested that it wasn't a "happy time" for Morley, even though Judge Swinnerton pointed out that he had enjoyed a "luxury cruise" during this period.
Ms Santamera said he tried to follow the rules in 2012, but things got tough when his partner and daughter went back to Spain. She said: "In his mind, he says the only way to fix that was to return to Spain." The judge said: "Knowing full well he should be serving a custodial sentence in the UK."
Ms Santamera told the court that Morley didn't remember getting a licence notice, and while in Spain, he had a bad accident where he fell down stairs - he had a bleed on the brain which caused a stroke. He ended up being sent to jail for two years and four months.
Last Thursday, the same court found out that the now 60-year-old was known as "IndelibleOsprey" on EncroChat by the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit after the secret chat service was hacked by cops in 2020. Morley, who lives on Elvington Road in Hightown, was connected to this account because his friends called him "J, JM, Joe, Big Joe and Joe Morl" in their messages.
His daughter's boyfriend Kane Omar, who used the name "ShallowZoo" and is waiting to find out his punishment for drug crimes linked to his use of the network, called him "me bird's pops". In one message, the man asked for £1,000 to be "dropped off with a lady called Trish in Netherton" - he has four grandkids with a woman named Trish.
Prosecutor Nicola Daley said: "It was clear that the defendant was using the handle, significantly, from the fact that it appeared to have been used in Spain at a time when the defendant was living in Spain. Several social media posts showed the defendant and other family members in Spain during that time."
She explained how Morley's chats revealed his role in supplying at least 10kg of cocaine and 7kg cannabis, as well as moving more than £100,000 cash. He had been chatting with people like "GreySteel" and "QuickJay".
Ms Daley painted him as someone who "directed and organised buying and selling on a commercial scale" while "having others doing the manual work in the Liverpool area". She added: "It appears that, while living in Spain, the defendant was directing others to locate and deliver kilo quantities of cocaine throughout the UK."
Morley was arrested on November 14 last year in a "pre-planned strike" at the junction of the M57 and M58, when he was stopped in a "relatively new" Audi car, reports the Liverpool Echo. He has a total of 12 previous convictions for 27 offences, including being given a two-and-a-half year suspended sentence in Spain in 2018 for what was described as a "potential attempted murder".
Damien Nolan, defending, told the court that his client had been a part of Kirkdale Amateur Boxing Club community activities, and was dealing with health issues. He remarked: "To some extent, it is a great shame that he is being sentenced now."
"He had resolved to lead a more normal, law-abiding life after his release from that sentence imposed in relation to those passport offences. He took up gainful employment and was living the life that many lead. He is genuinely remorseful for having become involved. He does not seek sympathy for himself.
"He has done many things on behalf of other people far less fortunate than himself. At the time he was arrested, he had independently demonstrated a desire to live in a way that is to be expected.
"He has perhaps recognised that it is just not productive to live this life and have these things hanging over your head. He is now going to pay the price."
Morley pleaded guilty to supplying cocaine and cannabis. By video link from HMP Altcourse, he received a prison sentence of 12 years. At sentencing, Judge Charlotte Crangle said: "You have accepted your part in trading in desperation and destitution, driven by greed and a complete disregard for the wellbeing of others and the impact of what you were doing on the society in which we all live. Drugs wreck lives and cause misery and desperation - you cared not about any of those things.
"You were playing for high stakes and financial reward. Those who trade in such misery and seek to profit must accept condign punishment. You no doubt thought you were protected by the phone in your hands, but that has proven to be your downfall. As a result of painstaking, meticulous work by a number of agencies, there was to be no hiding place for your drug dealing.
"You were attempting to become a better member of society. However, that hard work cannot prevent the consequences of your conduct from 2020 coming to bear."
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