Two Sandwell Council workers caged after major drugs bust

At Wolvo Crown Court on Friday, 25th August 2023 Billy Hayre and Sundeep Rai, in charge of bent Sandwell's "Prison Pilot" scheme were themselves sentenced to 12 years jail each after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

At the time of the offences the pair were employed at SMBC dealing with "Complex needs cases" in the bent Labour Council's "Housing Solutions Teams". This brought the self-confessed drugs suppliers into daily contact with ex-offenders and vulnerable adults. Hayre conducted his out of office visits in an Audi whilst Rai used two Mercedes cars in his relatively low paid post. It has to be said, having heard these morons give evidence, that it is difficult to see how they would even have been given jobs cleaning lavatories at the corrupt Council.

Regular readers will know that many employees at the contaminated Council have such cushy numbers that they also have outside jobs, and I have started a separate "rolling" blog on that subject:

https://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com/2023/07/sandwell-council-rolling-log-of.html

Curiously the disgraced former Chief Executive, Jan Britton, was unconcerned by this particularly, it seems, when it came to male employees with Asian heritage. He wrote this is a top secret letter to the supposedly independent external investigator preparing the infamous Wragge Report:

[Britton was referring here to Azeem Hafeez - Skidders passim ad nauseum - who is currently the lucky recipient of multi-million pound SEND transport contracts from the bent Borough.]

Hayre, of Keyworth Close, Tipton and an address in Great Barr, had run a Company called Avasa Care Limited and still runs a Company called Avasa Training & Education Ltd which appears never to have traded but may have given Hayre access to an all important business bank account. Rai ran a Company with the wonderful name, for a Coke supplier, of Inline Distribution Limited which has been, er, dissolved together with another defunct Company called Eclipse Supplies Limited. He still runs Elite Direct Limited. Elite had been run as a dormant company from a West Bromwich address since 2019 - but which, again, may have furnished Rai with access to a business bank account.

Hayre also set up a "charitable" company, Avasa for People CIC, which has yet to file any accounts. 

As we shall see, the evidence of these criminals in Court was risible. Rai claimed that he was in debt and so tried to make money wheeling and dealing in "cars, vans, fruit and veg, soft drinks and building materials" in addition to his undemanding day job at bent Sandwell. Even if this is remotely true he was clearly not paying the money into his Company, Elite Direct, which he specifically set up for the purpose of "non-specialised wholesale trade" as the Company is "dormant".

I was only alerted to this case  - by some of the few Sandwell staff who still have, metaphorical, balls - after this pair had pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charges and so the evidence that came out in the sentencing process was more limited than that which one would have heard at a full trial. Nevertheless it was an eye-opener.

Sandwell Council sources told The Skidder that Rai "hero-worshipped" Hayre and was in his thrall. It is said Rai would not know which hand to wipe his arse with unless Hayre told him. As we shall see, this was not the evidence given in Court where Rai sought to exonerate his colleague and take the whole blame himself, claiming that it was him who "controlled" Hayre.

There were three aspects to the case: (1) The importation of 31 kg of cocaine and 32 kg of methamphetamine from Mexico in a laser-cutting machine, (2) the suspected importation of a very large quantity of drugs in a consignment of Colombian bananas, and (3) the discovery of drugs and drug-dealing paraphernalia at a Sandwell address rented in the names of Rai and his wife. (In respect of the latter the landlords were completely innocent of any involvement in all this.)

The Court heard that the laser-cutting machine arrived at Heathrow Airport from Mexico and the UK Border Force found 31kg of coke plus the meth stashed inside the machine. They removed this and alerted the National Crime Agency (NCA) which let the machine continue on its way under surveillance. The machine was meant to go to an address in Central London but was diverted to a unit in Greets Green. In short, Hayre and Rai were in communication with the (wholly innocent) couriers and attended the unit to unload and store the machine - in Council works time (the pair had been at a meeting with "clients" just beforehand!) The NCA kept the unit under 24-hour surveillance.

A couple of days later a cargo of bananas arrived at Southampton docks from Colombia. Once again this was destined for Central London but was diverted to Tasker Street, West Bromwich. The NCA noticed that, unusually, the lorry was not refrigerated (Rai claimed in Court that the lorry was refrigerated but that the driver must "somehow" have accidentally turned the refrigerator off!) Hayre arrived and took possession of the bill of lading for the cargo and a mobile phone. As it happened the cargo did NOT contain drugs but acting on their suspicion the NCA arrested Hayre and Rai there and then. Hayre's car only contained the bill of lading but Rai's car contained 9 kg of cocaine - which he had been driving around Sandwell whilst visiting vulnerable individuals and ex-offenders!

Rai claimed that in addition to being a complex needs housing worker he was an expert on the importation of bananas and bored the Court with an absurd monologue about the refrigeration and shelf-life of the fruit. Whilst there were no drugs in the consignment once it appeared at Tasker Street, the load was 4,000 kg "light". Whilst some of this very significant loss could have been the result of natural wastage the NCA are quite certain that a substantial quantity of drugs had been hidden in the cargo but removed at some earlier point. Rai denied this saying that the huge loss in the weight of the load can be easily explained by the bananas rotting when the driver "accidentally" turned off the lorry's alleged refrigeration between Southampton and West Brom. It is common ground that the 9 kg of coke in the indebted Rai's Mercedes (or the one of two he drove) did NOT come from the banana shipment (and see further below).

A search was then made of the property rented in Rai's name where Hayre was also living  occasionally following alleged marital problems. In the garage was a suitcase containing 6 kg of a Class B drug (often used as an agent to "cut" cocaine). In the house was a small quantity of heroin together with a bag containing 495 ecstasy tablets, a money-counting machine and a safe. There was also a "dealer's list" which bore Hayre's fingerprints relating to the supply of 4.5 kgs of coke.

Another conspirator was a man using the name Matthew xxxxx who has never been traced. He cloned the identity of a real, and wholly innocent, person of that name to use for criminal activity. This poor bloke must have had the shock of his life when the NCA came a'knockin!

Continued below ...

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Thanks to Mr Putin we have all had a tough time lately with high inflation. The Skidder is a non-profit news service and is sustained from my own resources and from generous donations. Bringing this story to you alone had entailed FOUR trips to Wolvo. If you can spare a few quid and support the work this blog does please consider a donation via the Paypal button on the right-hand side of this post. (If you are reading this on a mobile phone you need to click through to the internet version to find the Paypal donation button.) Thanks y'all.

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May I just digress here to mention the farcical progress of this case since I became aware of it. These scum were due to be sentenced on 7th July. We kicked our heels around the Court most of the day. Late in the afternoon the case came before a "part-time" Judge who pointed out that although the pair had pleaded guilty it was not clear what parts of the evidence they were pleading guilty to! (This was either through negligence at the time the guilty pleas were entered or an attempt to "game the system".) Further, Hayre was now accusing Rai of being the main culprit. The case was adjourned until 13th July. Once again we waited until the afternoon when the Recorder of Wolverhampton started hearing the case. He made the same point as the earlier Judge and it was decided to have a "mini-trial" of the issues - without a jury. The case started and the - very impressive - NCA witness gave his evidence. But we ran out of time. The Recorder adjourned the case for a full-day hearing reserved to himself on 24th August, 2023. On Thursday the matter was only listed for half a day in the afternoon and before a new Judge! The barristers had had to collectively agree the evidence the Recorder had already heard and supply a copy to the new Judge. Needless to say the matter could not be concluded that day and so the case was adjourned for the final ruling and sentencing on Friday. (This will explain to Facebook Group members why I have had to keep putting off this story!) For the first three of these hearings two officers from the NCA had to drive up from the South of England each time, preventing them fighting other major crimes. What an absolute shambles and waste of public money!

Back to the main tale. There is a myth perpetuated about the operations of so-called criminal "masterminds". The grim reality is that the vast majority of criminals are as thick as sh*t and this pair certainly fit into that category. They were done for by clever and diligent monitoring of mobile phone usage. In short, they arranged the deliveries using what was described in Court as "the dirty phone". This was never recovered but experts were able to "co-locate" it with the movements of Hayre. A sim card for a phone (and I am unclear whether this was for the dirty phone or another mentioned) had been sent to "Hayre's girlfriend's" address. The pair used apps - WhatsApp and Signal - for some of the communications. (Incidentally Rai stated in Court that they also used WhatsApp for work purposes and, as I have written elsewhere, this is prevalent at the bent Labour Council to hide misconduct of all sorts.)

Both of these charmers admitted in Court to having affairs and claimed that the aptly-named dirty phone was used to organise their shagging activities. I have to say that three times during their evidence it was so ludicrous that I had to clamp my hand to my mouth to stifle laughter.

It was the phone stuff that did for Hayre. In his guilty plea he admitted that he knew the laser-cutter contained Class A drugs (although he didn't know they had been removed by customs). Yet on Thursday he basically denied everything. He claimed that he was at work in xxxxxx Street when Rai told him he needed his help to unload the laser-cutting machine. (Hayre gave the exact address in open Court - another issue I am raising with the Council). He went to help (on work's time) and only when they were putting it in the unit did Rai tell him it contained drugs. He was shocked and appalled by this and said he didn't want anything to do with drugs. He knew nothing about the bananas and only had the bill of lading as Rai had handed it to him with a mobile phone. He was only living in Rai's house for a very short time and his fingerprints may have been on the dealer's list but he probably picked it up in a "layer" of papers whilst he was cleaning up. He knew nothing of the drugs at the house, the money-counting machine etc. He claimed (as did Rai) that he only held the dirty phone during work hours and gave it back to Rai each evening. He held the dirty phone so that it did not come into the possession of Rai's wife. Readers will note the obvious absurdity of this - why would Rai hide the phone at work but then take it home where his missus was in the evening? As I said, criminal masterminds these two are not.

Hayre claimed (as did Rai) that when the pair were not together or when Rai was driving Hayre would pick up messages on the dirty phone about the deliveries and simply ask Rai for instructions - verbally or via WhatsApp. He would simply relay these messages on believing them to simply be related to deliveries of the machine and the bananas sans drugs. This he said, explained why the evidence showed that on many occasions he was involved in the arrangements for the deliveries when he and Rai were in different geographical locations.

If any of this was true (and the Judge didn't buy this b*llocks) it begs the question why Hayre pleaded guilty to such a serious charge in the first place. According to him, his ONLY knowledge of ANY illegality is when Rai told him at the Greets Green unit that the laser-cutter contained "some" drugs. 

Hayre's poor barrister tried to make bricks from straw on his behalf but the Judge himself intervened to mention the small matter of Hayre having already entered a guilty plea!

Rai was like a comedy turn in the witness box. He claimed that everything he had done was under duress from three named "Albanians". Albanian B was responsible for the importation of the laser-cutter. He intended to remove the drugs but had no use for the machine. Thus, the day before delivery, and knowing that Rai was a "wheeler-dealer" as well as a Council worker, he offered him the machine to sell on. Rai, purveyor of cars, vans, soft drinks, fruit and building materials, jumped at the chance as he "knew" he could easily sell such an item having a couple of friends who ran double-glazing businesses. (Again the Judge saw through this like two closely aligned panes of glass lol!)

The bananas, as I have said, led to his lecture to the Judge on the fruit. Clearly the prison where he was on remand stocks "The Ladybird Book of Fruit & Veg Wholesale". In addition to his onerous duties at the Council Rai again claimed he could "easily" sell an entire lorry load of perishable bananas. Alas the stock was in poor shape due to the lorry driver switching off the refrigeration causing 4,000 kgs to disappear between Southampton and Tasker Street. Again he had been offered this load via Albanian B.

With regard to the house, Rai claimed that despite his alleged debts he had an excellent credit rating but Albanian B did not and so the latter asked him to rent the house for him in return for "a financial incentive". Another nice little earner on top of his money from the taxpayer. He knew the house was to be used to conceal drugs etc but claimed that he was threatened by Albanian B that if he didn't keep his mouth shut there would be "consequences" for him and his family. He took this as a direct threat to their safety and even their lives. He admitted stashing the Class B drugs in the garage so that his son didn't see the suitcase and think he was "going away" (he is now!) This begs the question why he was taking his son to a house where he knew drugs were being concealed. Similarly he hid the 9 kgs under the boot tray of one of his Mercs so that his son did not see it. He said he knew the "brick-like package" contained drugs but did not know what was actually in it. He placed it in the car on instructions and drove it round with the intention of returning it to "the Albanians" when they asked for it.

Unsurprisingly, the prosecution asked why Rai had waited until the eleventh hour to make these claims. He had never spun this yarn to the police nor in his own pre-trial witness evidence. Rai was forced to admit that his legal teams (he sacked the first lot) had never advised him of the legal defence of duress before he, er, pleaded guilty (presumably because they were unaware of his story). Rai admitted that he had been too scared of the Albanians to mention any of this beforehand but felt now was the time to "speak out".

In respect of the cars, incidentally, Rai claimed that his brother "works for Mercedes" and obtains large discounts on their vehicles. He acquired two which he paid for but allowed Rai to use.

[You may pause here to listen to the Jackanory theme on Spotify ...]

Please note that at least two Albanians were mentioned in the evidence but the NCA specifically stated that they had been eliminated from their investigation very early on.

This joker, Rai, is clearly still beholden to the great Billy as he took full responsibility for everything. He backed up Hayre's story that Rai only told him the machine contained drugs when they were actually unloading it. He claimed he did give Hayre all the instructions on the deliveries. He alleged that Hayre did only spend a very short time at the rented property but would have been unaware of the presence of drugs etc there. It is noteworthy that when Hayre had given his evidence not only did Rai's barrister not cross-examine him but he actually told the Judge that he had received "specific instructions" from Rai not to do so. What a martyr!

But it all came to nought as the Judge wasn't having any of it and sentenced them equally. I will refer to one aspect of the mitigation below but there was another comedic moment when Rai's barrister began peeling an onion beneath his eyes and almost sobbed about the devastating effect of this saga on Rai's wife and children. No doubt Sunny himself had these folk in mind when he was balls-deep in his mistress.

National Crime Agency

There have been persistent allegations over the years that certain officers at Sandwell Police have been directly involved in the Class A drugs business. The most serious direct allegation (from more than one credible source) is that WMP officers tip off taxi drivers where and when spot checks are to occur so that, as a Sandwell Council employee told me, "they are not caught carrying drugs, money or prostitutes".

We have seen close connections between drug dealers and Sandwell Labour and that this was prevalent at the elections last May. Also the local Police have - at least until recent times - been completely corrupted and refuse to act against illegality within the bent Labour Council.

Further, I can say with 100% certainty that Sandwell Police have been supplied with names of cocaine users employed by SMBC some of whom have also been involved in dealing that Class A drug. The Blues have taken no action whatsoever even when one individual secured work in the proximity of children. Indeed, Sandwell Police have actually feted the individual concerned. More on that soon folks ...

All this raises the question whether Sandwell Police would have taken any action against this pair had they been aware of their activities? I suspect that, once again, they would have protected their "friends". It was fortunate that all this was triggered by the good work of customs at Heathrow so that the operation was conducted by the NCA and not the local Bent Blues.

To be fair, there are small but encouraging signs of a change of attitude at Sandwell Police and it is to be hoped that they now enforce the law without fear or favour.

Manesa Patel

Ms Patel is the Complex Hub Team Leader within bent Sandwell's Housing Solutions Team. As such she was the line manager of this pair who, ironically, ran the "Sandwell Prison Pilot Scheme". I don't think this was intended to guide employees straight into the nick!

One SMBC employee describes Ms Patel as "Hayre's girlfriend". Another calls her "Billy's partner". A third said she is "a very close friend of Billy". It is very important to note that Ms Patel has specifically told The Skidder that this is absolutely incorrect. She is not, she says, and never has been, in a relationship with Hayre. When asked why she was taking such an active interest in the case she said that he was just "a friend" (direct quote).

It has been alleged by one employee that Hayre regularly gave Ms Patel "gifts". I am sure that must be untrue given Ms Patel's clear and unequivocal statements that they were most definitely not close.

It has to be said, however, that Ms Patel has taken a day off work for each of the above mentioned hearings. She stated in my presence that she had visited Hayre in prison at least once. More surprisingly, at one of the hearings she went into a private consultation room with Hayre's barrister (a highly experienced professional). That is extremely unusual for someone not connected with the barrister's client.

I did not have access to the Court bundle of documents but Hayre's barrister specifically stated in mitigation that the bundle contained a number of character references for him including a letter from "Manesa Patel of his employers". This raises some concern. If Counsel was wrong and the letter was simply from a friend in her personal capacity then it is to be hoped that Ms Patel clearly described her true status vis a vis Hayre. Further, if this was a private reference one still has to ask whether this was appropriate noting that she was the line manager of this pair who were bunking off unloading lorries when she was, apparently, completely unaware of this. Bearing in mind too that Hayre had pleaded guilty and this letter was written with that knowledge, it would be wholly inappropriate if she lauded Hayre's work when at the same time he was involved in a major conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. This is like praising Captain Smith of the Titanic for his exemplary record apart from the unfortunate incident with the iceberg.

I am not privy to the contents of the Court bundle and it may be that Ms Patel/SMBC also gave a character reference for Rai. If there was one there it was NOT mentioned in mitigation by Rai's barrister. IF there was only a reference for Hayre and not one for Rai, why was this?

Of course, if the reference was made by Patel using Sandwell Council notepaper or email that would be even more inappropriate still and I am writing to SMBC to find out what the hell has gone on here. Did the Council really supply a character reference for someone who has pleaded guilty to major crime during the working day? Bent Labour have shown in the past they are sick enough to do this sort of thing. I will keep you posted folks.

Express and Star

After Sandwell Police, the biggest rimmers of the bent Labour Council are, of course, the Wolvo C*cksuckers. In reporting the case yesterday the C-S's completely failed to mention that this pair were employed by their pals at the Council and that some of the incidents happened in work time! 

They did mention that Rai had once been a PCSO. I too was aware of this but WMP told me directly that "it was a very long time ago". You can't trust The Star!

An Independent Investigation

These crimes merited 12 year prison sentences. This is so serious that Shokat Lal, the new-ish Chief Exec must commission an independent external investigation into this affair. This must not involve Tour, Farrow or anyone else involved in some of bent Labour's appalling "internal investigations" nor Grant Thornton, who have nailed their colours to Dim Kez's mast and have been deeply involved in the suppression of the Cox Review.

There are plenty of good barristers in Brum any one of whom should be instructed. S/he should be asked to look at:

1   The circumstances of how this dimwitted pair came to be appointed and, in particular, their qualifications for the posts they held;

2   How their line and other managers were unaware of them using works time to arrange deliveries, unload vans and lorries and supply Class A drugs (and, in the case of Rai, also wholesaling a variety of allegedly legitimate goods);

3   Did these two declare their supposedly legal external businesses via the Employees' Register of Interests? Are systems robust enough at the corrupt Council to monitor situations where employees have so little work to do they can run outside businesses?

3   Whether there is any evidence of any of the Council's vulnerable "clients" being affected by this criminality;

4   Were there any warning signs that management should have detected that this pair were possibly enjoying lifestyles incompatible with their incomes? Clearly the expensive cars may have been one "trigger" for suspicion; and

5   The circumstances in which Ms Patel came to give a reference for Hayre either personally or on behalf of the Council. Did she/SMBC also provide a reference for Rai and, if not, why not? Was it in any way appropriate in the circumstances that a character reference should have been provided in the full knowledge - via the guilty pleas - that the pair had been involved in very serious criminality during work time.

Another issue

Another matter arises thanks to information from SMBC employees which I am raising separately.

Another Skidder Crime Report ...

Fingers crossed another cracking Sandwell Crime Report will be out in about a month's time. Read The Skidder, Kidder!

And finally ...

Tireless Sandwell Community Activist, Darry Magher, has been a bit poorly lately. Get well soon, Darryl!

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

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PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

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