Phone password led to former footballer's downfall

An ex-footballer who used his old club's name in the password on his encrypted mobile phone while making drug deals worth nearly £500,000 has been jailed for nine years.

Former Barrow AFC defender Francis Ventre, of West Derby in Liverpool, "played a leading role" in a conspiracy to supply cocaine and ketamine valued at £479,500, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

At an earlier Liverpool Crown Court hearing, the 63-year-old admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and ketamine and conspiracy to convert criminal property.

NCA senior manager Jon Hughes said both drugs were "extremely harmful and a terrible blight on communities".

Ventre used an EncroChat phone to deal drugs between April and June 2020, the NCA said.

EncroChat phones were heavily encrypted devices used by criminals, relying on aliases, to communicate anonymously with each other.

In 2020, however, an international law enforcement team cracked into the platform, enabling investigators to read millions of messages, and blowing criminals' cover.

Ventre, hiding behind the handle "Dillforest", offered his contacts cocaine and ketamine – sometimes at discounted prices – and either directed others where to deliver the illegal substances, or couriered them himself.

He also shared images of the drugs he was supplying and discussed the transfer of payments.

In total, the NCA said Dillforest was involved in the supply of a kilogram (2.2lbs) of cocaine and 63kg (138lbs) of ketamine, with respective street values of £38,500 and £441,000.

When Merseyside Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) officers began their investigation into his EncroChat messages the significance of the word "barrow" within the password only came to light once they started looking for clues to Dillforest's real-world identity.

Ventre aka Dillforest had shared details about his relatives and himself, including the day and month of his birth and his postcode.

These, in combination with the password, enabled investigators to prove that Dillforest was, in fact, the former Barrow AFC footballer Francis Ventre.

NCA senior manager Hughes said: "My officers spent countless hours sifting through messages to painstakingly piece together clues to Dillforest's real-world identity, eventually uncovering Francis Ventre as the man behind the alias.

"The investigators' hard work has ensured that Ventre is in prison, and not out in Liverpool, still selling, delivering and profiting from drugs."

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