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This is the moment British criminal Jamie Rothwell dances while Spanish police drag him away with handcuffs.
Rothwell, who was first arrested in Barcelona on May 20, 2020, was later arrested in Amsterdam on December 20, 2020. Rothwell, then, will be extradited from the UK to the UK by March 2021. Dutch police captured him as he travelled in a cab in Amsterdam.
The 38-year-old from Salford, Greater Manchester, was recently sent down for a 43-year sentence for masterminding a €30.7 million (£26m) drugs and weapons empire.
Rothwell, who was featured recently in the Channel 4 documentary Operation Darkphone Murder by Text (Murder by Text), was one among hundreds of gangsters revealed when French police cracked EncroChat’s supposedly secure network in 2020.
READ MORE British crime boss Jamie Rothwell, who controlled UK shootings out of a luxury apartment in Barcelona, has been jailed for 43 YearsJamie Rothwell was arrested in Spain after authorities identified him as the leader of a crime group that ran a PS26m drugs empire in Greater Manchester.
Operating under the codename livelong, he boasted of sending ‘constant’ consignments of cocaine, ketamine, and even heavy weaponry – from AK-47 rifles to rocket-propelled grenades – back to the UK.
From his luxury Barcelona apartment, which boasted sweeping views of the city, he directed violent attacks on rivals. One such attack was a shooting that took place in Warrington, in April 2020. David Barnes, stepfather to mobster Liam Byrne’s son, was killed on his doorstep.
Intercepted EncroChat messages revealed Rothwell’s chilling mindset: “When you have fire in your heart you don’t stop… you get addicted, you lose everyone, you turn cold, no emotions.”
Later that year, Rothwell was tracked down and his arrest caught on video. The gangster tried to play clown as the officers closed in.
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He was extradited in the UK. There he confessed to conspiracies involving the supply of Class A and class B drugs.
Judge John Potter described him as ‘at the top of the organisation’ and said his crimes ‘graphically illustrate your willingness to cause loss and misery to others.’
The sentence of 43 years includes 18 years in prison for drug offenses and 25 for firearms crimes, both to be served concurrently.
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Nine more members of the group were also sent to prison, with Callum Morris and Craig Makinson each receiving 38 years.
Det Ch Insp Nick Henderson said Rothwell was an ‘arrogant and egotistical’ gangster who believed he was untouchable: “While he lapped up the Spanish sun, his associates carried out his orders and searched the streets of Warrington for those he had intended to harm.”
One victim was left with lifelong injuries and ‘will never be able to walk the same again.’
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