A CONVICTED drug dealer who ran an international cocaine ring from a Yorkshire jail cell using a smuggled mobile phone to organise deliveries from central America has been jailed for 18 years.
George Moon made phone calls to a contact in Panama using the contraband phone and two sim cards, and organised an operation which saw £300,000 worth of drugs imported into the UK.
His actions "beggared belief", said Judge Bryn Holloway at Doncast
er Crown Court, adding that the 62-year-old had led a "sophiscated and well-organised conspiracy" from behind bars at Lindholme Prison near Doncaster.
And he questioned the control exercised over prisoners there after it emerged the drugs were delivered in packages by Royal Mail Parcel Force, DHL and TNT.
Moon, who had already been jailed three times for drugs offences, made calls to contact Leo Morgan, from Birmingham, who was locked up in Panama's El Renacer Prison last year.
The pair orchestrated a deal which saw between two and three kilos' worth of cocaine smuggled into England and Ireland.
Moon, of Liverpool, admitted importing cocaine of 100 per cent purity. Jailing him, Judge Holloway told Liverpool Crown Court: "There are a number of most unusual features about this case.
"The first extraordinary feature was that from this end the operation was being run by you George Moon while actively serving a 14-year sentence imposed in 2003 for being involved in earlier importations of cocaine.
"You had already served five and six-year sentences, this is your fourth sentence.
"You were able, while a prisoner, to access mobile phones.
"With the support of assistants outside you were able to run this importation by being in regular contact with them and with people in South America and Ireland while looking after this conspiracy to achieve its objectives.
"An even more extraordinary fact was the South America end of this conspiracy was being run by an Englishman who was, at the time, a prisoner in Panama serving a sentence or awaiting trial."
It "beggared belief" said the judge. "The fact you were able to do that in an English prison raises questions over the levels of supervision and control over you."
In court, Moon, a small bald man, was portrayed as being exceptionally clever.
He took an Open University humanities degree, helped teach English and maths to less able inmates and generally won praise for his keen intellect.
But in court he was referred to as "an arch manipulator", and "a thorough rogue", and his wife Jean even wrote to the court about him.
Her letter, which was read out, said: "He's a conman. A confidence trickster who delights in getting one over the police or anyone in authority."
The case comes after the Yorkshire Post revealed more than 4,000 mobile phones were seized in jails in England and Wales last year, prompting MPs to describe the situation as "grotesque".
Another recent case involved Nigel Ramsey, 23, who orchestrated the gangland killing of 17-year-old Tarek Chaiboub in Sheffield, using a mobile phone in his cell at Wolds Prison, near Hull.
