Scarface cinema room helped identify Liverpool drug dealer
A drug-dealer who tried to buy sub-machine guns was identified partly due to his Scarface-themed home cinema.
Paul Sutton used the EncroChat encrypted phone network to traffic cocaine, crack and cannabis in 2020.
Sutton, from Fazakerley in Liverpool, was arrested in his caravan in Devon by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers.
The 40-year-old was jailed for 12 years and six months at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting drugs and firearms offences.
Sutton, who was using the handle "NuttyRose", was unaware that detectives could read his messages after the EncroChat network was hacked by French police in 2020.
Those messages showed that NuttyRose had attempted to buy guns including Uzi and Tec-9 sub-machine guns, with a silencer.
The NCA said those deals eventually fell through due to the guns going out of stock.
He also discussed the purchase of at least a kilogram of cocaine, and bought and sold at least 11.5kg of cannabis.
Information in chats with other criminals revealed NuttyRose's birthday matched Sutton's, and he had used his wife's name and birthday on his lock-screen passcode.
NuttyRose also told a contact about "lads doing cinema room".
When Sutton's house in Redbank Close was raided on 21 July, 2021, officers found a secret cinema room accessible from behind a mirror, with cushions branded with the logo from the Al Pacino gangster film Scarface.
'Mistaken belief'
The search also revealed two bags of high-purity cocaine worth about £21,000, as well as £5,000 in cash in a bedroom drawer.
NCA detectives also searched Sutton's holiday home - a caravan in Devon - where he was arrested and £1,500 in cash was seized.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracies to supply crack-cocaine and cannabis, conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon, possession of cocaine with intent to supply and possession of criminal property.
Senior investigating officer Dean Wallbank said: "Sutton mistakenly believed EncroChat was a safe space to conduct his criminal business.
"Once the National Crime Agency had Nuttyrose's messages, officers worked meticulously to identify who the user was and ensure that Sutton was brought to face justice."
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