Thomas Maher (42) was arrested in 2019, but never charged, when 39 Vietnamese people found dead in truck in Essex after botched people smuggling operation
Sinister texts of gangland fixer show his plot to have killer hurt in prison
Encrochat messages released to the ECHO reveal plot to attack haulage boss inside the prison system
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A wealthy criminal who was involved in drugs and money laundering sent text messages planning to have a jailed haulage boss attacked in prison.
Warrington man Thomas Maher is now serving a 14-year sentence after Liverpool Crown court heard he was a facilitator who helped powerful gangs smuggle drugs and move around dirty cash.
Maher was jailed as a result of a hack of the Encrochat phone network which was used by established criminals to communicate with each other.
Greedy trucker Thomas Maher worked for rival criminals in the Kinahan and Hutch mobs and had his illegal transport network back on the road delivering drugs, guns and cash within weeks of getting caught up in the probe into the death of 39 immigrants in the back of a container he once owned.
Maher was jailed this week for 14 years after pleading guilty to transporting cocaine from the Netherlands to Ireland via the UK and laundering cash.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he had used the encrypted phone network Encrochat to plan his black market transport for gangs across Ireland.
Officers say he would stop at nothing to keep the flow of cocaine, heroin and weapons flooding into Ireland even though he was caught up in the investigation into the death of the tragic Vietnamese workers who suffocated on their journey to a new life.