Drug lord paid daughter’s private school fees by handing envelopes of cash to receptionist
The scale of Gregory Bell's sophisticated drugs operation has been described as "staggering"
A drug lord whose 'criminal enterprise reached into every corner of the UK' paid his daughter’s school fees with envelopes of cash handed to the school’s receptionist, a court heard.
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Gregory Bell, 43, headed up a "highly sophisticated" drug empire and owned 34 properties mostly across east Manchester.
He also bought two villas in Spain and lived in a £2,200 per month rented flat in the Cheshire village of Prestbury, funded by his huge drug operation.
But his dirty money also put his daughter through a top private school, in the form of cash envelopes left with the receptionist, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Bell, of Scottmount, Prestbury, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to money laundering and conspiracy to supplying a string of different drugs.
They included cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine, amphetamine, cannabis and diamorphine.
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They included cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine, amphetamine, cannabis and diamorphine.
The narcotics were stashed away at two "safe houses" in Alderley Edge and Bury where couriers picked up orders and delivered them in vehicles fitted with secret compartments, the court heard.
He was also found with more than £70,000-worth of designer clothes at his home address, along with other luxury and costly goods.
The court also heard how he had a “serious and long-standing addiction to gambling, spending tens of thousands of pounds at various casinos.”
Prosecutor David Temkin KC said: “By way of example, police investigations show that Bell had staked some £1.5m at Ladbrokes with some £1.3m in returns, and he had staked some £696,000 at Betfred with some £527,000 in returns.”
“Essentially this enterprise was at the upper end of the supply chain, effectively acting as a wholesaler and providing retailers with vast quantities of drugs for onward sale.”
Bell was slapped with a prison sentence of 18 years and nine months on Monday.
No evidence suggests the school or receptionist were aware of his criminal connections.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Detective Inspector Richard Castley, from the force’s serious organised crime division, said Bell operated "a criminal enterprise that reached into every corner of the UK".
"He operated like a CEO using encrypted phones, spoofed identities, and a network of couriers and safe houses to move vast quantities of drugs and launder millions of pounds.
"The scale of Bell's operation was staggering, from the volume of drugs being moved to the number of properties he acquired through criminal proceeds."
Five other members of his drugs gang have also been jailed.