Major organised crime gang facing years behind bars

An ex-pupil at a top private school who took part in football trials at Aston Villa might have expected an exciting future after such an auspicious start in life.

But Jonathan Arnold, 30, formerly of Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands, went on to become the kingpin of an organised crime gang which attempted to bring at least £135million worth of drugs into Britain.

He will now spend years behind bars after admitting charges of conspiring to import and supply cocaine, heroin and ketamine.

Before he was caught, Arnold lived the high life, taking trips to Dubai where he would film himself driving around in a Ferrari.

Arnold had a privileged childhood, attending Repton Public School in Derbyshire, which is seen as one of the most prestigious schools in Britain and charges more than £10,000 a term.

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He had trials for Aston Villa, taught rugby at a posh international summer school and was described as “polite and personable” by those who knew him when he was growing up.

It appeared he had the world at his feet and was on track to lead a successful life, but instead he turned to crime.

Arnold’s parents have said they struggle to understand what went wrong with their son, but suggested his mixing with the “wrong crowd” and an addiction to Tramadol were to blame.

Mum Sue Arnold, who served as Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire from 2012-21, has challenged West Midlands Police’s characterisation of her son as a druglord.

Although Mrs Arnold admits her son did wrong, she claimed her previous role may have affected how detectives approached Arnold’s case.

Mrs Arnold told Birmingham Live: “We still cannot fully comprehend where it all went wrong. We were fortunate that we had both been successful and were able to give him the very best life we could.

“He attended Repton, one of the finest public schools in the UK, until he was 18. He was never a great academic, but had an aptitude for caring for others – in particular the younger generation – and sport.

“He played county cricket, had trials for Aston Villa and played rugby for his local town. Whilst he was privileged, he always had a predisposition to helping those less fortunate.”

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“He helped at Samiad international school and taught rugby to the younger generation. He had an awful lot of empathy for these kids who were away from their families.”

Mrs Arnold said when her son finished sixth form he wasn’t interested in university and wanted to work in his father’s business, which he did successfully for 10 years.

She added: “He was a tremendous help during Covid when the business was financially struggling. In order to reduce costs, he was conducting the work of two men. He would be up at 2am travelling around the UK fitting signs.”

But Mrs Arnold said they started to see a change in Arnold around that time, as he became involved with some questionable characters.

She said: “We have since learned that during this period he was introduced to Tramadol and advised to take it with an energy drink and it would ensure he would remain alert during this time.

“He had a tumultuous first year of his own business, but was profitable. During this period, we began to see a change in his character. He became aggressive to both of us if we offered advice and we pointed out that the characters he was contracting to carry out the operations were less than salubrious.”

“He had a perverse loyalty to those that needed money and was making some bad decisions in terms of loaning vans to them and paying them when it had been less than successful on the removal job. Customers’ furniture was being stolen from his unit and vans trashed, basically jeopardising the business going forward through numerous complaints from clients.

“There was a misguided attempt to keep people in their jobs when his own business was failing. We implored him to close the business, but he wrongly believed he could turn it around.”

Family friend and retired newspaper editor Nick Hudson told Birmingham Live he remembered Arnold as a “loveable, energetic” boy and a “highly approachable, hardworking adult”.

Mr Hudson said: “I have known Jonathan’s parents for more than 25 years and have watched with admiration his progress – developing from a loveable, energetic boy in short trousers to a highly approachable, hardworking adult with a disciplined physicality that spawned a talented all-round sportsman.”

Arnold’s organised crime gang was caught when a van was searched by French Customs officials who found 63 blocks of cocaine weighing 71kg along with 99 bags of ketamine weighing 101kg. The haul had a wholesale value of £2,561,900.

The biggest single seizure was in April last year when the gang attempted to bring 1,477kg of cocaine with a street value of about £118m into Portsmouth, according to West Midlands Police.

Hidden among bananas, the drugs were seized by Dutch police onboard a ship from Colombia bound for Vlissingen in The Netherlands.

Det Ch Supt Jenny Skyrme, head of West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit, said previously: “We can’t underestimate the scale and significance of this criminal organisation. This is the biggest drugs case that we have ever dealt with as an organisation.

“The gang was operating at the highest levels of criminality, bringing in industrial quantities of drugs to sell on the streets of the West Midlands and beyond. As the head of the crime group, Jonathan Arnold enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, driving luxury cars and enjoying trips to Dubai.

“He gave the impression that he was a legitimate businessman with a small firm which moved furniture and had a turnover of £50,000 a month. The reality was that he was arranging tens of millions of pounds worth of drugs to be imported into the UK from Europe and South America, which would have gone on to cause untold misery and significant harm to communities.”

Arnold admitted four charges of conspiracy to import and supply cocaine, heroin and ketamine. He was sentenced to 23 years and six months by Judge Heidi Kubik KC at Birmingham Crown Court on July 28.

At the same court, gang member James Jenkins, 25, of Lichfield Street, Tamworth, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, but not guilty of importing cocaine. He was jailed for 15 years.

Connor Fletcher, 25, of Bridgnorth Road, Wolverhampton, was found guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine and jailed for 12 years. Humayan Sadiq, 43, of Manchester, was found guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine. He was jailed for 27 years.

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