The Only Way Is Essex star Cara Kilbey’s lover ‘was ring-leader of multi-million pound drug gang that posed as trainee cabbies’
Father of Kilbey's daughter is accused of running "in house" cocaine operation that raked in nearly £500,000 a week
THE boyfriend of ex-Towie star Cara Kilbey was the ringleader of a multi-million pound drug gang that posed as trainee cabbies to sell cocaine and heroin, a court heard.
Daniel Harris, 33, allegedly oversaw a "top to bottom supply chain" that raked in nearly £500,000 a week by selling drugs across London.
The gang members used encrypted Blackberry phones to avoid detection and kept all of the operation "in house" - from multi-kilo deals down to street corner sales, it is alleged.
The dealers would scoot around London on mopeds fitted with "Knowledge boards" to make it appear they were training to be black cab drivers, the Old Bailey heard.
Peter Clement, prosecuting, told the court that none of the riders were registered to learn the Knowledge and that it was a ruse so they could deliver cocaine.
Harris lived in Theydon Bois, Essex, with Cara and their young daughter Penelope Blu.
He is accused of running the multi-million pound drug operation between 2012 and 2016.
Such mopeds mocked up like this are wholly inconspicuous.. they had one purpose and it was to supply cocaine
Peter Clement
Three weeks of mobile phone data showed his gang had sold 45 kilos of cocaine at £31,500 a kilo - worth £1,417,500, the court heard.
It is alleged some of the gang members, including Harris himself, were also part of a conspiracy to sell heroin in May 2015.
Harris was watched by undercover police during meetings with other members of the group before he was arrested in March last year, it is claimed.
Cops later searched his family home and found £116,000 in cash in an Asda shopping bag inside a black holdall in his daughter's bedroom, jurors heard.
He had also searched for "250 kilos of drugs" and "'counter surveillance course in UK" on his encrypted Blackberry, it is claimed.
Jurors were told that while Cara Kilbey was independently wealthy, Harris had no job and only a vague ambition to open a Crossfit gym.
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He had borrowed £50,000 from his partner's father in two instalments in December 2014 and January 2015 and another £10,000 from his mother.
Mr Clement said: "It begs the question how he was able to live as he did, which was in some style.
"His partner undoubtedly was independently wealthy through her father, a very wealthy businessman. A Porsche motor car which featured in observations was registered to his partner Cara, as was a very nice apartment which they lived in at Theydon Bois with their young child.
"Their lifestyle was of a high order but the prosecution suggest it was not in the order consistent with someone who had no identifiable source of income."
Bank records show that when he was arrested in March 2016 he had only £75 in his account, the court heard.
They as organisers, as leaders, remain at arm's length. They keep their hands clean.
Mr Clement
Raids on other gang members led to the seizure of high-purity cocaine with a street value of nearly £1m as well as large quantities of cutting agents and cash, jurors heard.
The cocaine was marked with the labels "Fox" and "Cocoa" while the self sealed bags used by the gang were emblazoned with the Union Jack flag, the court heard
Cops also found the mopeds equipped with "Knowledge boards" with top boxes allegedly fitted for storing drugs.
Mr Clement told jurors the case involved an "organised crime gang, whose principle business was the supply of cocaine".
He added: "The three weeks' decrypted messages present nothing more than a snapshot of the scale of this gang's operation which ran for several years."
Mr Clement continued: "That was how it was run - top to bottom supply chain on a large scale covering multi kilo supplies down to street corner size deals of half a gram.
"Their motivation was simple - money.
"And of course, by keeping it in house, as it were, they stood to maximise their profits, cutting out third parties, cutting out middle men.
"And you shall hear something of the vast profits, the vast potential in money from the supply of cocaine. Indeed, it attaches also to heroin, albeit at lesser quantities.
"The prosecution say that this defendant was a principle of that organised crime gang - an organiser, a leader.
"He is implicated, like the others, by the different strands of evidence that fit together, suggest the prosecution, and need to be viewed in the round, rather than in little exclusive compartments.
"Like pieces of a jigsaw that fit together.
"In this defendant's case the strands, the pieces of evidence, range from police surveillance evidence, telephone data and traffic, the possession and use of telephones or other devices in the course of the conspiracy.
"And also by virtue of what was found at his home when police searched it on the second of March last year. They found cash, and lots of it."
Mr Clement continued: "Those at the top end do not fit at the factory floor, the production line.
"They don't dirty their hands with the product, the commodity. They don't do the delivery run, they don't bag it up in little street deal amounts. Others lower down the chain do that.
"They as organisers, as leaders, remain at arm's length. They keep their hands clean, particularly when the commodity is a Class A drug.
"That is the level and nature of this defendant's involvement."
"One of the gang members rented out a flat off the City Road in Clerkenwell, north London, to use as a 'safe house' for them to meet."
But he added: "Not this defendant. The prosecution suggest he did not need to attend the premises.
"His role was not of that order, rather he met his managers at other locations."
Mr Clement later told jurors: ";Plainly the gang needed transport with which to distribute the drugs around London.
"A '"Knowledge board" was fitted, commonly used by those learning the Knowledge.
"Importantly of course, such mopeds mocked up like this are wholly inconspicuous. They don't stand out at all.
"One sees them in and around London at all times of day.
"Checks were made with Transport for London as to whether any of those named persons had registered to do the knowledge or indeed, passed the knowledge. The answer unsurprisingly was no.
"There is a reason for that. They were all mocked up. They had one purpose and it was to supply cocaine."
The group used the anaesthetic benzocaine to cut the cocaine to maximise their profits, the court heard.
Police recovered about 14 and a half kilos of the cutting agent at the home of one of the members, the jury was told.
Harris is likely to claim he knew nothing of the conspiracy and that the cash recovered by police at his home was not from crime, the prosecutor said.
Harris denies conspiracy to supply cocaine, conspiracy to supply heroin, and possessing criminal property.
The trial continues.
In a separate case drug dealer Paul Simmons-Turner, who mixed with Towie stars, was shot dead in December 2015.
Towie stars including James "Arg" Argent paid tribute to him after his death.