Jailed: The Cambridge drug dealer with lavish lifestyle and £18,500 in his sock drawer
A Cambridge drug dealer who splashed his cash on Mercedes cars, Rolex watches and luxury holidays has been jailed for eight years.
When police caught up with James Wilks at his Whittington Road home in January 2018, they found £18,500 stashed in his sock drawer, along with £50,000 worth of designer clothes and jewellery.
Since he had a job as a roofer, earning £180 a week, Cambridgeshire police began asking questions about where all his money came from.
Further warrants were executed at properties in High Street, Cherry Hinton, and Barker Driver, in Camden, London, and again in Whittington Road, where a further £5,700 was seized, along with his designer goods, a Mercedes GL63, and cannabis and cocaine.
The Met police stopped and searched a vehicle in Swinton Street, London, in which Wilks was a passenger, on January 24 during the national lockdown.
He was found with £23,015 in cash.
Wilks was arrested again on July 1, 2021, in connection with drug trafficking between April and June 2020, during which time he was involved in the trading of up to five kilograms of cocaine and up to a kilogram of cannabis.
He had been using the Encrochat platform to communicate with other criminals to organise the supply of controlled drugs. The platform was taken down by international law enforcement agencies in June 2020.
An investigation into Wilks’ bank transactions and lifestyle, showed that since 2013 he had spent an average of just £12.20 a week on food, including supermarkets, takeaways and restaurants, and just £7.20 a month on fuel.
In 2017, he didn’t spend anything, despite leasing three Mercedes cars.
Detectives learned of numerous cash payments, including £69 a month on a gym membership, £341 on luxury kennels, £5,745 at Harrods, £1,391 on hair and beauty treatments as well as thousands of pounds on renting his London home and a storage unit. He had enjoyed multiple holidays abroad including in Italy, Spain, Dubai and America.
And he had deposited £28,267.89 into his bank between January 2013 and 24 January 2021, but wasn’t able to account for where it had come from.
At Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday (November 25), Wilks, 39, formerly of High Street, Cherry Hinton, was sentenced to eight years in prison after previously pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of class A drugs (cocaine), offering to supply a class A drug (cocaine), being concerned in the supply of class B drugs (cannabis), four counts of converting criminal property, two counts of possessing criminal property and possession of a class A (cocaine) and class B (cannabis) drug.
Det Sgt Neil Hewson said: “Wilks was heavily involved in the Cambridgeshire drugs supply network which facilitated his lavish lifestyle. Such activity will not be tolerated in our county and the sentence reflects the seriousness of the offending.
“We’re committed to pursuing those who are involved in organised drug trafficking.”
If you know someone who is dealing drugs, report it online at https://bit.ly/3nUHNWJ.
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