A crown court judge has criticised the decision of investigating officers not to have tested four phones held by drug dealer Roy Hickman. Hickman, 42, was previously jailed for 14 years and five months for leading a gang that peddled class A drugs to vulnerable users in the Cumbria area.
Hickman was released on licence from this sentence in November 2024, but was arrested again when police stopped a car on William Jessop Way in Liverpool city centre on July 6 this year. Officers seized a quantity of cannabis from the vehicle and recovered a number of mobile phones during a subsequent search of his address.
Breach of serious crime prevention order
The four phones breached a serious crime prevention order (SCPO), imposed on Hickman to limit his ability to reengage in serious and organised criminality. He initially denied the charge of breaching the order at the lower court, but admitted the offence at his plea hearing at Liverpool Crown Court earlier this month.
He was due to be sentenced at the same court this afternoon, Wednesday, but Iain Criddle, prosecuting, told Judge Brian Cummings KC, presiding, that the police had not analysed Hickman's phones to determine if there was evidence of criminality on them.
Mr Criddle said: "I have asked and been told they were not asked to do that or they did not think to do so." He added it would take at least 12 weeks for investigators to properly examine the phones.
Judge's reaction and defence argument
Judge Cummings said: "The purpose of these orders is to stop people having phones for criminal purposes...if there is no criminality and just a technical breach then no harm done, but if they have been used for it then that is a different matter."
The judge added: "I'm amazed that the police seized phones in these circumstances and did not think to have them examined."
John Rowan, representing Hickman, said the drug dealer had been recalled to prison following his arrest last month. He added if the court delayed to obtain evidence of what the phones contained then it would deny Hickman a chance of parole longer.
Mr Rowan said: "If there is crime [on the phones] then he can be charged if there is significant evidence and he can be dealt with then."
He added that Hickman denied that there would be any criminality found on the phones. Mr Rowan said he had been told by Hickman that two of the phones were old and had been forgotten about in drawers, the third was his current phone and the fourth was a new phone that he had yet to notify the police about.
Adjournment and next steps
Adjourning proceedings to allow for the police to investigate the phones, Judge Cummings said "a bomb should be put under this case...it should be prioritised". He added: "The police need to get on with this."
Hickman, who appeared to the court on video link from HMP Altcourse, will now next appear in court on November 11. He previously denied possession of a class B drug, cannabis. During his hearing earlier this month, it was confirmed the prosecution accepted the plea and would not seek to take it to a trial.
The ECHO previously reported that Hickman's drug network was run from Liverpool and sold heroin and crack cocaine to addicts across Cumbria as part of an illicit campaign that saw them exploit vulnerable families. Tactics included using addicts' homes to store drugs and cuckooing - placing dealers in the houses of vulnerable people to work on the ground for gang leaders. Hickman was found to have benefited from the drug plot to the tune of £265,616.68. He was ordered to pay back £50,000 of his ill-gotten gains.
