A drug dealer involved in the supply of more than £150,000 worth of cocaine and ketamine who boasted "business is good" has been jailed.
Stephen Palmer used the handle 'Palm Beach' in illicit EncroChat phone conversations with six individuals detailing the buying, selling and quality of kilo-size quantities of the class A and class B drugs.
He was identified after images of him holding a fish and selling a vehicle were sent out by the user.
Further evidence linking Palmer to his distinctive EncroChat handle was discovered from paperwork relating to a property in France. This included a UK correspondence address in Palm Beach Avenue, Hythe.
EncroChat was a military-grade and expensive encrypted phone system extensively used by organised crime groups trading in drugs and guns throughout Europe.
However, in 2020 it was shut down after being infiltrated - and the conversations consequently cracked - by international law enforcement agencies.
In one of his own phone exchanges, 41-year-old Palmer even warned another user that SIM cards should be discarded on a weekly basis to avoid detection, Maidstone Crown Court heard.
He also exchanged photographs of drugs in the messages as he brokered deals for cocaine at around £36,500 per kilo and for ketamine at some £7,500.
Prosecutor Sarah Morris contended Palmer, already a convicted drug dealer, played a leading role in a commercial-scale supply operation.
"In one exchange he talks about 'missing 10,000'. That may be indicative of the amounts of money he was dealing with," she told the court.
"The defence submit he was not part of an organised crime group but that doesn't matter. He was also not a courier; he was much higher up.
"In his own words, business was good and business was sustained and, at around £40,000 per kilo, it was a commercial scale operation - whether he was in an organised crime group or not."
However, the sentencing judge decided that much of what Palmer said was "advertising bluff", and that it was accepted by the courts that not all offers of drugs in such cases come to fruition.
The crook's own defence team had also argued that his role was not as senior as alleged but one of "management", and with significant rather than substantial financial gain.
Palmer, of Oslin Walk, Kings Hill, West Malling pleaded guilty to two offences of being concerned in the supply of four kilos of cocaine and one of ketamine between March and June 2020.
The court heard that in 2014 he had been jailed for six years for a cocaine supply conspiracy but, following his release three years later, had, "endeavoured to turn his life around", said Peter Marshall, defending.
However, when the dad-of-four, who lives with his partner and has joint responsibility for two other children, fell on financial hard times during the Covid pandemic, "old contacts and old opportunities arose" as a result, and for which he now "had to pay the price", added Mr Marshall.
"He is contrite. He knows he has let his family down....They will not only miss his support but his presence in their lives for some time."
Jailing Palmer on Friday (May 31) for 10-and-a-half years, Judge Philip St.John-Stevens told him that by reason of his previous conviction 10 years ago, he would have been "fully aware" of the seriousness of his criminality in 2020.
But in accepting his role was limited to five kilos and not a leading one, he said: "What is clear is that EncroChat communication involves individuals - some of which have more significant roles, some less - and not every expression to supply drugs is a declaration that they will be supplied.
"There is a lot of advertising, a lot of individuals bigging up their position to give the buyer confidence.
"The court sees time without number the same pictures of drugs, the same pictures of counting machines, of money going round and round, propping up their advertising.
"The court is aware that not every declaration is a definitive position that somebody is going to supply that quantity of drugs.
"Stripping away the advertising bluff, this was a significant role case. He was in a chain, getting significant financial advantage and had an understanding of the scale of the operation.
"This defendant was lending himself to a large criminal organisation - people he didn't know but, in the world of EncroChat, people dealing in drugs.
"He was offering himself out to supply class A and class B drugs."
Judge St.John-Stevens accepted Palmer was genuinely "remorseful and upset", not just for himself but also for "letting down" his family.
But in conclusion, he told him: "You knew the seriousness of becoming involved again. You had been given a six-year sentence previously.
"You are an intelligent man who now has family responsibilities. I accept your remorse.
"But you must understand you, and anyone involved in peddling drugs that bring misery and death, should expect a substantial sentence."
Following his arrest last year, Palmer was also charged with soliciting to murder as well as firearm and ammunition-related offences. However, these were later dismissed by the court or ordered to be left on file.
