Bradley Roberts denied any ownership of the firearms and was only charged with possessing ketamine with intent to supply
A man only convicted of a drug offence despite guns including a Skorpion being found in a lock-up registered to him has had his prison sentence reduced. Bradley Roberts, clad in his dressing gown, uttered “what for” as police officers targeting a £200,000 drug supply ring raided his home and arrested him in February 2024.
Merseyside Police officers had the previous week executed a warrant at a Powderworks Lane industrial estate unit in Melling registered to Roberts. Police seized firearms, including a Skorpion submachine gun, and ammunition from the unit, as well as a carrier bag containing three bags of white powder containing 300g of ketamine, worth up to £6,000.
Roberts’ DNA was found on the drug packaging, three sets of scales, multiple bags, a plastic container and a set of gloves. When he was arrested and interviewed he provided a prepared statement in which he stated he had rented the unit with another person but was fearful of naming them.
He claimed he had no idea about some of the items in the container and denied ownership of any drugs, firearms or bicycles recovered from the unit. He then answered “no comment” to all questions.
Roberts appeared at Liverpool Crown Court and entered a guilty plea to the offence of possessing ketamine with intent to supply. His co-defendants faced counts of conspiracy to supply class B drugs while the principal defendant Taylor McArthur also faced counts of conspiracy to supply cocaine, conspiracy to possess ammunition without a firearm certificate and various counts of possession of prohibited firearms and ammunition.
Roberts, of St Andrews Close in Maghull, pleaded guilty to his sole charge and was sentenced to 27 months’ immediate imprisonment. Roberts’ defence lawyer said the defendant was a project manager at a building contractor; lived alone in a house owned by his parents and had a long-term partner.
The court heard Roberts became involved in selling ketamine because of his own use of the class B drug and was supplying to his friends. Acknowledging the increasing problem of ketamine use in Merseyside, the sentencing judge described the drug as “literally corrosive to bodies of those who take it”.
Roberts appeared before the Court of Appeal sitting at Mold Crown Court last month to challenge the length of sentence. The grounds of appeal submitted the judge increased the sentence too much given Roberts’ “impressive mitigation”.
The three appeal judges – Lord Justice Lewis, Justice Stacey and Justice Williams – determined the defendant should have been entitled to a downwards adjustment in the guidelines which would have reduced the final sentence to around 15 months.
The judges concluded “given the quantity of drugs found, the professionalism of the operation, with all the accoutrements and paraphernalia in the rented that the appellant had co-rented, for weighing and packaging the drugs for sale, it was an offence that was so serious the the appropriate punishment could only be achieved by immediate custody”.
The other three defendants were also sentenced following the two-year police probe. Officers used covert surveillance, phone analysis and vehicle tracking to build their case.
The ECHO previously reported during the operation officers recovered 2kg of ketamine, 45kg of cannabis, two self-loading pistols, a Skorpion sub-machine gun, ammunition and firearms components and over £86,000 in cash.
McArthur, of Regent Road in Kirkdale, acted as a central organiser, using encrypted communications under the handle “Billy the Kid” to coordinate drug supply, cash movement and ammunition procurement. He was arrested at his waterfront apartment at Tobacco Warehouse, where police found cannabis resin branded with the Everton FC badge. He was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in prison.
His half-brother, Thomas Mee, was also detained after being stopped by police while driving. Earlier surveillance had captured him making a series of short stops in his car consistent with street-level dealing.
Kerry Grice was arrested after officers executed a warrant at her home in Kirkdale. The 49-year-old allowed her home to be used as a “safehouse in which to store drugs” and “acted as a warehouseperson, facilitating the collection and supply of drugs and cash”.
Mee, of Dovecot Avenue in Dovecot, was sentenced to three years in prison, while Grice, of Archer Close, received a term of three years and nine months.
The sentencing judge said: “The misuse of cannabis, ketamine and cocaine causes devastation to the people who take them and the families who try their best to support them. They blight the communities in which addicts live and dealers operate.
“As is seen in this case, organised crime gangs have access to a cache of lethal firearms and ammunition. As recent cases have shown to chilling effect, weapons of this type have been used in targeted incidents and indiscriminately fired at people who have been killed after being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Society must pick up the human and other costs of this trade.”
