A man was convicted after cops noticed his McGregor mural.
Ryan Palin, 36, was convicted of conspiracy to supply 700kg of cocaine, 15kg of heroin and 40kg of amphetamines by a court in Liverpool this week (per Liverpool Echo). Cops made their case against Palin after French and Dutch police hacked the encrypted phone network EncroChat.
Police had been chasing an EncroChat user who went by the handle Titch.com, who they believed was using the service to set up drug deals. Some of the images shared by that user included a large mural of UFC star Conor McGregor. The mural showed McGregor wearing a crown and sitting on a throne.
When Merseyside Police raided Palin’s home in December they discovered the McGregor mural painted inside the residence. This confirmed to them that Palin was Titch.com. During that raid police also discovered over $100,000 worth of designer clothes and a number of Rolex watches.
Palin maintained that he was not the owner of the Titch.com account (despite the matching murals). A jury wasn’t convinced, though. After he was handed a guilty verdict Liverpool Crown Court sentenced Palin to 29 years in prison.
Detective Sergeant Graeme Kehoe spoke to reporters about the substantial sentence handed down to Palin.
“We welcome the verdict and sentence and now that Ryan Palin is behind bars and can no longer peddle huge amounts of drugs and misery on the streets of Merseyside and beyond,” he said. “Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, Palin chose to go to trial. Fortunately the jury saw through his lies and Palin can now consider the consequences of his actions while he serves a significant time in jail.”
“Palin’s substantial sentence should serve as a stark warning to anyone involved in this criminality that there are serious consequences,” he continued. “We simply won’t let people live off the profits of criminality while our law-abiding communities work hard to make an honest living – we will find you and bring you to justice.”