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Bungling Graham King, 53, became the ‘fall guy’ after his botched attempt to smuggle drugs into prison
A drug dealer concealed crack cocaine, ketamine, and cannabis inside a crisp packet and passed them to an inmate during a prison visit. Graham King retrieved the illicit package from his trousers before launching his botched attempt to smuggle contraband into the jail.
The long term addict then became the “fall guy” for the loss of these substances and was recruited into the street supply of both heroin and crack cocaine under drugs line “controller” David Bigley. The dad was himself said to have become involved within the operation after accumulating a cannabis debt.
Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday afternoon, Thursday, that King, of Jarrett Road in Kirkby, Liverpool, attended HMP Lindholme in South Yorkshire on August 18, 2023, to visit prisoner Darren Atkinson, who he had never previously met. CCTV captured the 53 year old retrieving a package from the front of his trousers and attempting to hide it inside an empty crisp packet before handing it across the table to the inmate.
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Jamie Baxter, prosecuting, described how the “crude exchange was obviously detected”, with the parcel quickly being recovered by guards following a “tussle”. Afterwards, this was found to contain quantities of crack cocaine, ketamine, cannabis resin and class C drugs.
King became embroiled in a conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine on the streets between May and September 2025, with Bigley having been the “controller of a dedicated drugs line” which sent out bulk “flare messages” to customers in order to offer their wares for sale. The 32-year-old, of Scoter Road, was later discovered in possession of an iPhone containing the relevant SIM card upon his arrest, reports the Liverpool Echo.
The phone number in question was meanwhile shown to have cell sited in the area of his home address and “mirrored the movements of his vehicle”. CCTV footage also captured him purchasing top-up vouchers for the phone while wearing the same clothing he was wearing when later detained by Merseyside Police.
King meanwhile dealt drugs on behalf of the line, having been the graft phone’s most frequent contact. His own device was found to contain messages relating to him “whipping drugs”, or converting cocaine into crack cocaine, and contact between his then partner and a friend “discussing how she was about to have a line and that her fella sells it”.
His criminal record shows 11 previous convictions for 30 offences, including drug supply offences in 2005 and production of cannabis in 2023. Charles Lander, defending King, told the court: “Your honour perhaps only has to look at him to see how drugs have taken their toll upon him.
“Sadly when covid hit, he lost his mother, father, brother and sister. That took him to the edge. He was out of control. It is simply an explanation as to why he comes before the courts for category A supply.”
Of those above his client in the chain, Mr Lander said: “They know that he is vulnerable. They know that he will do what they say. They blame him, because the drugs got confiscated by the prison authorities. He is the fall guy. He is threatened with violence.
“He is trying to work in prison to better himself and find employment once he is out. It is a sad tale, because he has lost all of his immediate family and he has now lost his home.”
Bigley meanwhile has six previous convictions for 10 offences, including offering to supply class A and B drugs in March 2023. His counsel Carmel Wilde added: “He had been released from his last sentence on the 1st of March 2024. Obviously, it was a similar offence.
“Those who are released having served sentences for drug offences are often in a vulnerable position. In his words, he wants to go home, but that will be some time away. He is trying to use his time in prison fruitfully to re-evaluate himself.
“He informs me that, at the time of these offences, he found it difficult to come out from prison and readjust himself. He found himself addicted to cannabis and involved himself in order to discharge his debt. He said he was having a bad time and had lost his best friend, and his head fell off. In his words, he jumped on the phone.
“The biggest punishment to him is that he has two children. As a result of trauma as a child, he tells me that he had been diagnosed with anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder. He was, at the time, not taking any medication and burying his head in sand. His grandfather, who he was very close to, died, and he found himself really lacking family support.
“I ask your honour to take into account the progress that he is making in custody, now drug free. There were obviously bigger fish here. He was controlling the graft phone, taking orders and making contact with those who were going to deliver the drugs.”
King admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine, supplying crack cocaine, ketamine and cannabis and two counts of supplying a class C drug. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool, he was jailed for a total of five-and-a-half years.
Bigley meanwhile pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine. Similarly appearing in court remotely from Walton prison, he was handed four years and 10 months behind bars.
Sentencing King, Recorder Martine Snowdon said: “You appreciate, and it is a fact, that taking drugs into prison, even in the relatively small amounts that you had in your possession that day, is inherently more serious than the supply of those drugs in a different environment because of how it undermines the infrastructure and leads to real problems in the custody setting. Your case is significant aggravated by your previous convictions.”
The judge meanwhile told Bigley: “You sat above your co-accused, but you only have the one set of offences. You have comparable aggravating and mitigating features. Both of you have addictions to drugs, both of you have difficulties with your mental health, both of you have previous convictions. Because you directed him, you have to be sentenced as a layer above him.”
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