ITN –One of Britain’s most wanted men has been handed a 14 year sentence on Friday by Liverpool Crown court. His conviction came at the end of a six-year manhunt which led to his arrest in Thessaloniki in December last year. The rest of the gang were jailed for 170 years.
He had a ‘cocaine factory’ in Stockport, which was raided in 2009, and was planning to ship huge quantities of the class A drug into Greater Manchester.
When Dutton was caught in December, he told Greek police he was a Romanian national, before then claiming he was from Bulgaria.
Today’s sentence brings to an end a prolonged multi agency investigation spanning across Europe.
Dutton and his associates led lavish lifestyles living well beyond their means and purchasing expensively furnished houses, high powered cars, jewellery and foreign holidays using the proceeds of their illicit enterprise.
Drugs cause widespread damage in the community and we will not tolerate anybody trying to flood our streets with these substances.
I want to pay tribute to the intelligence and operational teams in Thessaloniki and Athens Greek police who played a vital role in finding and catching Dutton.
I hope that this sends the message that no matter where you go and how long you run for, we will find you and bring you to justice.
– DETECTIVE SERGEANT COLIN SHACKLETON, GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE
Dutton was one of the main players in a large and lucrative criminal organisation based in the north west of England.
He spent six years on the run from law enforcement, but the NCA has global reach and we never give up the hunt.
We are grateful to our partners in the UK and the Hellenic Police who helped us track down Dutton and bring him back to the UK to face justice.
– JAYNE LLOYD, NCA BRANCH COMMANDER
