A leading member of a crime group led by gangster Vincent Coggins attempted to smuggle 600kg of cocaine from South America in a yacht.
Edward Jarvis, 59, was unmasked last week as the right hand man of Huyton Firm boss Vincent Coggins - a violent gangster whose organised crime group (OCG) flooded the UK with drugs since the early 1990s. Coggins and his brother Francis, brought up in Knowsley’s Cantril Farm in the 1970s and 80s, built their powerful drug gang from nothing into a bona fide cartel that rivalled criminal factions from Ireland, Eastern Europe and South America.
The Huyton Firm controlled large parts of Knowsley and the eastern edge of Liverpool. But their criminal empire was toppled after their illicit business was exposed by European law enforcement's hack of the encrypted messaging platform EncroChat in April 2020. The ECHO last week was finally able to unmask Vincent Coggins and his associates as those responsible for causing misery and destruction across Merseyside following the culmination of Jarvis' trial at Manchester Crown Court.
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Jarvis, the only member of the gang to have pleaded not guilty to the charges, was found guilty by a jury of two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and conspiracy to blackmail after the seven-week trial. But a look back at Jarvis' criminal past might give an indication as to why he attempted to fight the crown's case against him.
Jarvis was previously jailed in 2005 for his role in an extravagant plot to smuggle huge quantities of cocaine from South America to Europe. Jarvis, aged 35 at the time, arranged for the drugs to be transported from the island of Marguerita, near Venezuela, with the intention of shipping them across the Atlantic.
The yacht, called The Pulse, was bought in the Greek island of Rhodes and registered as a British vessel under a false name. Jarvis was said to have travelled to Marguerita in March 2000 and stayed in a number of hotels under a false name. During a trial at Liverpool Crown Court five years later, prosecutors said several calls were made from his rooms to Columbia before he left the island.
The plot was undone when customs and UK police, who had kept the yacht under surveillance, raided the boat after observing a delivery being made. Andrew Menary KC, who prosecuted the case, said the 600kg of cocaine seized would have cost Jarvis and his criminal associates around £500,000, but "on the streets of Europe would be worth £48m".
Jarvis was said to have played the role of organiser in the plot. Jarvis, who lived in a luxury gated estate in West Derby, home to a number of celebrities, was also indicted in connection with assisting and inducing the commission of a drugs offence in The Netherlands between November 1997 and May 1998.
This was in relation to an amphetamine and cannabis seizure, worth up to £900,000, in a house near Amsterdam. The Huyton Firm, which Jarvis was understood to have been an integral member of since its foundation, had significant links to mainland Europe. The gang was believed to have had a base of operations in the Costa del Sol and a significant footing in Amsterdam as well.
Criminal prosecutors believe that two EncroChat handles linked to Francis Coggins - the only major player in the gang yet to be brought to justice - were traced to Amsterdam. Paul Fitzsimmons, described in court as the chief financial officer to the Coggins operation, was also arrested and extradited from Amsterdam after fleeing there.
Jarvis was found guilty by a jury of six men and six women and sentenced to 28 years in prison. He was also jailed for two more offences - linked to the Dutch drug seizure - with the sentences running concurrently. Sentencing, a judge told Jarvis: "That cocaine on The Pulse was to be brought back to Europe and no doubt a good part of it would have found itself on the streets of this country."
A recent BBC Panorama investigation heard from Peter Walsh, author of Drug War: The Secret History, who said investigating officers believed other individuals involved in the South America plot, but never charged, would have been "key figures" in the Huyton Firm.
While Jarvis was in prison he had more than £800,000 of his profits - used to buy a seven-bedroom mansion, luxury Spanish villa and expensive jewellery - seized under a court confiscation order. Jarvis' then wife, Alison, who divorced him around the same time, also pleaded guilty to possessing criminal property and was also made subject to a confiscation order after she spent thousands of his criminal exploits.
Jarvis is likely to have served half of his prison sentence for the South America plot and been released around 2019. EncroChat messages viewed after the April 2020 hack gave police investigators a view of the Huyton Firm's exploits during the spring and early summer of that year. Given Jarvis' role within the organisation and Vincent Coggins' trust towards him, it is likely he fell back into criminality as soon as he was released.
The messages showed Jarvis, under the EncroChat name "Softherb", communicated with Vincent Coggins, "moonlitboat" and his brother Francis, "tallcanine" and "mixedjet", to discuss the the sales of “tops” (cocaine) and “botts” (heroin). The EncroChat messages showed the gang discussing international shipments and deals, while also advertising their “belter” product to buyers in Scotland, South Wales and elsewhere.
Other messages showed the gang smuggled the drugs into the UK through the Port of Liverpool with the help of dock workers. These supply routes would have opened up the Coggins’ gang to receive shipments from anywhere in the world were a driving force in allowing the gang to build international power and reputation.
However, after a raid on one of the gang's stash houses which saw £1m of cocaine stolen and a man slashed with a machete, Vincent Coggins called on his associates, including Jarvis, Michael Earle and Paul Woodford, to help him recover his property. After first hearing about the raid, at the stash house where Paul Glynn lived with his son Kenny, Vincent Coggins' immediate suspicions fell on the younger man.
Vincent Coggins messaged right hand man Jarvis, his eyes and ears on the investigation, “Got to be the son, f*** it, I kill him.” In the following days Vincent Coggins directed his troops to find those responsible. After obtaining a CCTV video, he directed Jarvis and Paul Fitzsimmons to distribute it across the underworld for help. And when he had a name, he started to put in place a plan of action.
He messaged Michael Earle “M8 can you sort pineapple tonight” - a term used to refer to a hand grenade, while Paul Woodford offered to buy a firearm and ammunition on Vincent Coggins’ behalf. His target was Brian Maxwell, a professional drug dealer who later used the EncroChat phone network to source weapons including semi-automatic AR-15 rifles and an AK47 to protect himself from attack.
What followed was a terrifying blackmail plot that saw Vincent Coggins and his associates blackmail Maxwell's dad, Brian Maxwell Sr, for over £1m of house and land in order to stop the gang moving ahead with its violent plans. However, messages revealed Vincent Coggins still planned to kill those he believed to be responsible. However, it was later revealed Vincent Coggins had the wrong target - the drugs had been stolen by a Salford-based crime group working in partnership with Liverpool man Richard Caswell.
On June 13 2020, EncroChat administrators sent all users the message that the domain had been compromised and they could no longer guarantee the security of the devices. They advised users to power off and to physically dispose of their devices. Three days later, Vincent Coggins, Woodford, Earle and Jarvis were all arrested by the police. And despite the rest of the gang pleading guilty to a number of offences, Jarvis went to trial, perhaps fearing another significant stretch in prison.
Following a seven-week trial, and nearly 12 hours of deliberations, the jury unanimously found him guilty on all three counts. Jarvis, whose most recent address was Breckside Park in Anfield, will be sentenced at a later date.
Vincent Coggins pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs and conspiracy to commit blackmail and was jailed for 28 years. Paul Woodford, of Marl Road in Kirkby and 48-year-old Michael Earle, of Wallace Drive in Huyton pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs and conspiracy to commit blackmail. They were handed 24-and-a-half years and 11 years respectively.
Dean Borrows, aged 39 and of Ledson Grove in Aughton, 46-year-old Darren Tierney, of Chatham Street in Stockport, and 60-year-old Paul Fitzsimmons, of Birch Tree Court in West Derby, admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin. They were handed respective terms 14 years and three months, 12 years and nine months and 12-and-a-half years.
Kevin Rimmer, of Blacklow Brow in Huyton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin. The 57-year-old was locked up for 16 years. Paul Glynn, of Croxdale Road West in West Derby, admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine. The 59-year-old was given 11 years and two months.
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