A drug dealer who ran a cocaine hotline for six months was jailed for 45 months after police used a chainsaw to force entry into his home. Wai Lam, 44, of Dunkirk Lane in Leyland, admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine and possession of criminal property two days before he was due to stand trial.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Tuesday that Lam was the controller of two graft lines used to supply cocaine to users in the Southport area between March and September last year. He directed others to sell the drugs after receiving responses to flare messages advertising drugs for sale, which boasted promises of "belter flake" and the "best about".
How the dealer was caught
Lam was linked to the operation via cell siting evidence, messages exchanged with his partner, CCTV footage of him purchasing top-ups for the phones and the co-location of the devices with his vehicles. This included an occasion where his Volkswagen Golf was seen travelling from Tarleton, West Lancashire, to Bootle and back and another where his BMW 5 Series was driven "across the continent".
Police attended Lam's then home on Bakers Mews in Tarleton on September 15 2025, with his girlfriend having opened the door to officers when she heard them "starting up a saw" in order to force entry. The defendant was found in the living room of the property, with three children also present in the house at the time.
Phones used as part of the county lines supply were seized from the address, as was a Tag Heuer watch valued at £999, £3,820 in cash from the pocket of a coat located in a bedroom and Lam's vehicle. He has a total of 28 previous convictions for 62 offences, including possession of cannabis with intent to supply in 2013.
'Distressing experience' in Spanish prison
Carmel Wilde, defending, told the court that a pre-sentence report prepared by the Probation Service in relation to her client was "simply dreadful", adding: "It is an absolutely dreadful report, one of the worst I have seen in terms of minimisation. It is not uncommon that one sees minimisation. Judgement day is approaching. The default position is, if I don't admit it, it's not real, it's not happening."
"The court would expect one to hold his hands up. The defence accepts the full facts of the prosecution case. He accepts that he panicked. He has young children and a partner, and he is entering this court with great trepidation. He accepts that his head fell off, in his words, when facing up to the reality of the situation."
Lam moved to Spain to be nearer to his teenage children. Their mother died from pancreatic cancer about eight or nine years ago. He was incarcerated for two-and-a-half years for a very serious offence for which he was acquitted, which Wilde described as "a very distressing experience for him".
"He accepts that he was in a bad place when he returned from Spain. He was dealing with the bereavement of his previous partner, and his brother committed suicide in July 2024. There was a lot going on. The defendant was, at some point, medicated for depression, but no longer wishes to take that medication due to the effects of it."
"His foolish decision making has placed him in this very precarious position. He has let his family down and his children. He has been on bail for a year and, at one point, was signing on every day at the police station. He has not committed any further offences. He has dealt with his drug use and he has been trying to work for his brother in the scaffolding and labouring business. He has continued to work legitimately. His last offending was in 2018, some eight years ago."
'See you in a bit'
Having been jailed for 45 months, Lam gave a thumbs up to his supporters in the public gallery and said: "I'll phone you when I get in there. See you in a bit."
Sentencing, Recorder Katie Jones said: "You had an operational or management function in the chain. You had an expectation, clearly, by what was seized from you, of a significant financial advantage."
"You were selling direct to users or directing others to sell to users. This is an escalation in offending, of course. The length of time of your offending is an aggravating factor. It is over six months."
"In terms of mitigating factors, I have taken account of your difficult personal circumstances, with a significant period in a foreign jail for a crime and difficult experiences that you suffered during your incarceration and bereavements you have suffered, which you have not perhaps processed yet as well as you might."
"You have clearly got a prospect of work, because you have shown that you are capable of being hard working when you are not involved in nefarious activities. You have a young family."
