Gym owner Nicholas Whitcombe who rose to prominence after being fined for refusing to close his business during a Covid-19 lockdown, has been busted by police after they found text messages where he reportedly told an associate how to ‘clean’ dirty money.
He has been described by a judge as a “professional drug dealer”, with his role in a trafficking scheme being exposed during an investigation by the customs and immigration department in Jersey.
Mr Whitcombe had received a £1,000 fine for keeping his Body Tech Fitness site in Moreton during a lockdown.
Gym owner Nicholas Whitcombe
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In a plot worth more than £50,000, the court heard that Mr Whitcombe worked with Anthony Andrew Dryden between 2018 and 2019 to traffic cannabis resin into the Channel Island before laundering the money. Mr Whitcombe operated in Merseyside and Mr Dryden from Jersey.
In late 2018, exports of cash totalling over £16,000 were sent out after 3kg of drugs was imported into Jersey.
Following a quiet period after an associate of Mr Whitcombe sent a package to an incorrect address, in December 2018 Whitcombe told Dryden the UK side of the operation was being handed over to someone else.
Up to 1kg of cannabis was imported in March of 2019, before a further import in June of that year.
Mr Dryden was arrested soon after and following the seizure of his mobile phone, it was revealed that a number of text messages between him and Mr Whitcombe, detailed their operation and the suggestions on how to clean dirty money.
Following a gap of two years, in July 2021 Dryden was arrested again, and Whitcombe was arrested, brought back to Jersey and charged.
The Liverpool Echo reports that on Wednesday the pair was sentenced before Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae.
Crown Advocate Richard Pedley recommended both men be sentenced to three years and six months in prison.
Advocate George Pearce, defending Dryden, said his client had asked him to "apologise to the court for his actions and for finding himself before the court again".
Advocate Julian Gollop, representing Whitcombe, said his client should not be jailed, highlighting how he "fronted a national campaign during lockdown to have gyms and health services open and available to members of the public".