Crime boss guilty of murder plot and importing cocaine

A drug baron has been found guilty of importing cocaine into the UK and planning the murder of a rival after police cracked his mobile phone messages.

James Harding, 34, from Alton in Hampshire but who was based in Dubai, was the leader of a "sophisticated and successful" criminal syndicate that made more than £5m in just 10 weeks from distributing drugs across the UK in 2020.

Harding, who gave his profession as a sales executive of luxury watches, lived a luxury lifestyle in the United Arab Emirates, driving Lamborghini and Bugatti sports cars and staying at five star hotels, his Old Bailey trial heard.

Sentencing has been adjourned for a date to be set.

Harding's second-in-command, Jayes Kharouti, 39, from Epsom, Surrey, was also convicted of conspiracy to murder, having already pleaded guilty to importing cocaine before the trial started.

In April 2020, both men had discussed using a gunman to shoot an unnamed drugs courier from a rival crime network and to rob their drugs.

The pair used EncroChat-encrypted phones to communicate, believing they were "impregnable to any access by law enforcement", said prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC.

Harding and Kharouti had used nicknames, known as "handles", during their EncroChat conversations, with Harding calling himself "thetopsking" and his right hand man Kharouti using the name "besttops".

Seizures of cocaine to which the defendants referred in their EncroChat calls proved "the drugs being talked about were real, the stakes high and the communications serious", the trial heard.

Approximately 50 importations of drugs were made into the UK, with a total weight of one tonne, between April and June 2020.

EncroChat calls revealed that in April and May 2020 "thetopsking" and "besttops" discussed the robbery of a courier, locations and the use of a bike and a gun to carry it out.

The court heard a hitman was recruited and provided with a firearm and ammunition to carry out the "full M" - a murder.

A man was identified for the task who had a previous conviction for manslaughter.

"The fact he did so underlines that this was a true conspiracy to murder someone the drugs importers had a problem with and wanted to put permanently out of business," said Mr Atkinson.

Another man, Peter Thompson, 61, pleaded guilty on 4 November 2021 to the illegal importation of cocaine and possession of a firearm and ammunition.

This showed that a firearm was available to be used in the murder planned by Harding and Kharouti, the prosecution said.

The trial heard that in 2020 a French police force had identified a way to capture information from the EncroChat communications system and information about "thetopsking" and his associates was provided to UK authorities.

Harding was arrested at Geneva Airport in Switzerland on 27 December 2021 and then extradited to the UK in May 2022 to stand trial.

Meanwhile, Kharouti fled to Turkey in 2020, but was also extradited back to the UK.

Giving evidence in his defence, Harding claimed he was not "thetopsking", but was instead in a relationship with a man who used that handle.

Harding claimed he had been too "ashamed" to admit to the relationship but said going on trial had forced him to reveal it and that the "thetopsking" was in fact the father of his ex-partner's child.

Harding also admitted that he had previously pleaded guilty to drugs offences and possession of fake ID documents and had been jailed in 2013.

He claimed he had moved in 2019 to Dubai where "thetopsking" was living.

He told the trial he could not identify "thetopsking" because he was scared of being attacked.

Two other men - Calvin Crump, 29, and Khuram Ahmed, 39 - pleaded guilty on 28 February 2024 to their involvement in a cocaine importation conspiracy.

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