Northamptonshire coke dealer's meticulous diaries revealed his own criminal enterprise

Benjamin Woollard ran a criminal enterprise worth hundreds of thousands of pounds from his home in Yardley Hastings, supplying almost 30 customers, with about 4kg of cocaine passing through his hands.

He was caught out after undercover surveillance saw him meet with another criminal, Craig Thorp, with police later finding white powder in his Jaguar and at his home.

On Friday (Woollard) was jailed for eight years after admitting being concerned in the supply of a class A drug.

Northampton Crown Court heard the 61-year-old was arrested in April 2023 and, when asked if there was anything in his boot which shouldn’t be there, said: “No I don’t think so.”

Officers seized 65g of cocaine before finding four tubs of white powder when they searched his Little Lane home. The largest had 35g of cocaine in it and they also found £2,100 in cash.

The phone in his Jaguar was seized and Woollard declined to give the PIN – but it was eventually cracked and dealing messages were found on it.

Police didn’t have to look far to find out more about his criminal enterprise – because he’d written it all down.

Prosecutor Nicola Moore said: “The defendant, to his credit but also to his downfall, kept meticulous records in his diaries.”

The court heard his records showed entries with meetings with Thorp and another man, Oskar Filipiak, to restock his product, using the word ‘reload’ in diaries. Woollard bought drugs from Thorp to sell to his own clients and also bought wholesale quantities of drugs from Filipiak.

He kept numbers of regular customers and would chase them about payments.

Ms Moore said: “It was his own business and it was sophisticated. He was directing the business.”

Analysis of his bank account between 2019 and 2023 showed a credit turnover of £471,000, despite him having no job.

About £346,000 of this was in the form of third party transfers from 29 different people.

Ms Moore said: “Some, if not all, of these 29 people were regulars.”

The court heard that phone cell site data proved Woollard, who wore a blue suit in the dock, had met Thorp for ‘reloads’ on 27 occasions but his diaries showed 128 payments to him since 2017 – using the word Gucci.

Woollard was arrested for a second time in June 2023 as part of an investigation that saw a haul of luxury cars also seized.

More diaries and notebooks were seized which held more information which helped those investigating.

Police also found a note indicating he had Googled ‘how long does it take police to break into a phone?’ and ‘how long does it take drug offences to be sentenced?’

Ms Moore said: “Here’s the answer - about a year.”

Mitigating, Micaila Williams said that when Woollard was arrested in April his involvement in the supply of cocaine ended and that he was remorseful.

She said: “It’s clear that having had that brush with the law it effectively popped the bubble he was living in.”

The court heard that Woollard was supplying a closed customer base, many of which were in his social circle, and hid it from his family with his crimes coming as a surprise to many who knew him.

Ms Williams said he thought he only had five years to live because of health conditions and his actions escalated but that there was a degree of naivety in what he was doing and that he had brought shame upon his family.

She said: “He has now seen the real effects of drugs – the addicts whose lives are ruined by the drug world.”

Ms Williams added that Woollard had found prison hard since he was remanded in custody last year.

She said: “It’s a world he never imagined entering but one he must now settle into.”

Sentencing, His Honour Judge Rupert Mayo told Woollard he had ‘loyal’ customers who ‘frankly should have known better’.

He said: “You were not dealing heroin from a bike, or out of a crackden, or out of a disreputable premises in a town in this county…you were leaving amounts of drugs in gardens and on the wheels of people’s Range Rovers.”

Judge Mayo told Woollard that he would have been jailed for 10 years after a trial but reduced it to eight years because of his guilty plea.

He will serve up to half in custody before being released on licence and will face a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at a later date.

Filipiak, 44 and of Castleview in Barnwell, was previously sentenced to 22 months in prison suspended for 12 months, with rehabilitation activity days, after admitting being concerned in the supply of cocaine.

Thorp, 50 and of Whittle Road in Shirley, Solihull, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine and will be sentenced at a later date after a Newton hearing.