Raymond Kinnear and his son Nathan played key roles in a £31.6m drugs plot and are now facing long sentences behind bars
A Welsh dad’s involvement in a £31.6m drugs plot was revealed by the contents of Sports Direct bags. Raymond Kinnear, and his son Nathan, were jailed for nearly 25 years, after police discovered a huge haul of 45kg of cocaine inside Raymond Kinnear’s Audi.
A court heard he had left the car parked inside an industrial unit. The 63-year-old enlisted his estate agent son, Nathan Kinnear, 23, to provide “backup” during his criminal activities, as well as booking hotel rooms and providing Sports Direct and Aldi bags for life, which were used to store the illegal substances.
After being arrested, police identified the dad as the EncroChat user “ViperBat” and a Rolex watch was seized from his caravan.
Liverpool Crown Court heard Merseyside Police attended Liver Industrial Estate in Aintree at around 10.45pm on June 18, 2024, and searched a unit which “appeared to be under the control of a bathroom company”. It had however been subleased by Raymond Kinnear since April 28, 2024.
The dad’s grey Audi A4 was found parked within the premises and contained 70 vacuum sealed blocks of high purity cocaine, weighing a total of 45kg and alone worth more than £1.5million. The drugs were being stored in several Sports Direct bags for life left inside the Audi.
Nicola Daley, prosecuting, said investigations subsequently established he had been in contact with his son during the afternoon before the dad drove to Merseyside from his caravan at Abbey Farm in Llangollen, Denbighshire.
Meanwhile, Nathan Kinnear and his girlfriend visited a Sports Direct store in order to purchase eight bags which were “consistent with” those later used to hold the drugs.
The court heard the 23-year-old also booked a room at the Travelodge at Stonedale Retail Park in Croxteth for his father to stay the night.
The two men then visited the Travelodge together to check in before stopping at a BP petrol station and travelling to the industrial estate.
The son left his Mercedes C-Class parked nearby before his girlfriend picked them both up just after 10pm and drove them to an Esso garage. Don’t miss a court report by signing up to our crime newsletter here.
Nathan Kinnear was arrested at his home in Scarisbrick Road in Norris Green in the early hours of June 19 after trying to flee from officers by jumping from an upstairs window. The keys to the unit were found inside his car. The industrial estate was labelled a “safe area” where the drugs could be packaged and stored before being transported onwards.
A total of £4,700 was later seized from the top shelf of a wardrobe in his bedroom at his mum’s home in Satinwood Crescent in Melling, with a further £250 found on the window ledge. Later that day, PCs visited Raymond Kinnear’s caravan and recovered a “high value” Rolex watch and around £30,000 of cash.
WhatsApp messages and calls between the pair revealed they had been involved in a series of similar movements of drugs or cash during the previous six months. Kinnear senior would liaise with others in order to arrange collections or drops off using passwords like “Dumbo” and “blue”.
Alongside the seized 45kg, the Kinnears were also linked to the supply of a total of 211kg of cocaine during this period. The large quantity was said to have a wholesale value of between £6.19million and £7.96million, rising to between £18.9million and £31.6million if sold at street level.
Raymond Kinnear’s criminal record showed four previous convictions during the 1980s, including receiving three years in 1988 for causing death by reckless driving.
Jason Smith, for the defendant, previously said: “He is 63 years of age, and he has had to accept that a significant period of the latter part of his life will be spent serving a custodial sentence.
“That will have an impact on him. More important is the impact on his family. The person who suffers most is that one he has brought to the table. He has to suffer the shame and responsibility for his son being in the dock with him. He accepts full responsibility for involving Nathan in what took place.
“His role has been set out. At times, it is a delivery role. At times, it is a role involving far more important logistics. He was working under the direction of others higher up in the chain. He is now aware of the consequences of being involved in offending such as that.”
The court heard that Nathan Kinnear had no previous convictions. Paul Becker, defending, told the court: “I would ask the court to bear in mind his age. He may have been naïve as to the extent of the operation and the scale of criminality. He may have placed too much trust in his father and the things that he was expected to do for his dad.”
Speaking about his client’s role, Mr Becker said: “It may have been moral support, it may have been a show of strength. We cannot say. He must have been helping. What that help was is speculation. He was not an organiser, but someone who his father trusted.
“He was looking for approval from his dad. It is very difficult to say no to a parent who is expecting a particular response. The defendant accepts that he made serious errors of judgement.
“His 89-year-old grandfather sadly passed away a few days ago. The defendant is loved by members of his family. It is clearly going to be a long sentence for a 23-year-old. I would ask your honour to give him some hope for the future and not to crush his hopes.”
Raymond Kinnear, who appeared in the dock wearing a white shirt and tie with short grey hair, admitted two counts of conspiracy to supply cocaine and one of conspiracy to supply ketamine. He was handed 17 years behind bars.
Nathan Kinnear, who wore glasses and a navy blue suit over a white shirt and pale blue tie, pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to supply cocaine. He stood with his head bowed as he was sentenced to seven years and four months.
During sentencing, Judge Neil Flewitt KC called the scheme an “operation on the most serious and commercial scale” and added: “It is clear that Raymond Kinnear was very close to those involved in the importation of the drugs. Raymond Kinnear’s role was to collect the cocaine, to store it in an industrial unit rented for that purpose, to divide it and to deliver it to those further down the chain of supply.
“For that work, Raymond Kinnear was well rewarded. In addition, he involved his son Nathan in his offending. Nathan Kinnear played a part in the conspiracy on each occasion that Raymond Kinnear was involved in the distribution of class A drugs.
“There are some important differences in their situations. Nathan Kinnear’s role was clearly subordinate to that of his father. It involved booking accommodation, giving his father lifts, sourcing bags in which to carry drugs and providing backup when his father delivered the drugs.
Turning to Nathan Kinnear, Judge Flewitt said: “It is clear that he is a young man who is highly regarded, and he has the potential to make something of his life. I accept that Nathan Kinnear was drawn into this offending by his father as a result of naivety and an eagerness to please.
“Nonetheless, he can have been in no doubt as to the seriousness of the enterprise in which he was involved. Nathan Kinnear was still a young man when he committed the offence. There are grounds to believe that he will develop and, upon release, realise his full potential.”