Video probe of party in prison as group including coke dealer and killer film themselves behind bars

A dealer who supplied multi-million pound drug shipments and a convicted murderer are among a group of criminals caught on camera partying in jail and chanting vile racism.

Leon Hinchcliffe, who was jailed in May 2018 for his role in a Wirral drug gang behind a £9m cocaine plot, filmed himself and other criminals in HMP Buckley Hall. The video shows Hinchcliffe and a number of other people inside a cell listening to dance music and drinking suspected alcohol.

One of the other men inside the cell, who the ECHO understands is convicted murderer John Dyer, then stands up and shouts “where the dead are, bring them here”. The other men then chant the same racist language. Hinchcliffe repeatedly shouts “Dyer” before the men pose for the camera.

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The ECHO understands another man at the center of the video is another murderer, Michael Haigh, who killed a father-of-two in a hit-and-run attack. We understand the video was filmed inside HMP Buckley Hall – a category C prison near Rochdale – on Friday 24 May. The ECHO disabled the video because of the vile racist language used by the prisoners.

A source, who sent the video to the ECHO, said “drug lords and killers celebrating what they’ve done when they should be in rehab sickens me… it’s not fair to the victim families of these monsters”. The ECHO understands the videos were shared online but have since been taken down.

A Prison Service spokesman said: “We do not tolerate mobile phones in prison and those found with them may face additional time behind bars.” The Prison Service has a specialist team, called the HMPPS Digital Media Investigations Unit, which identifies and works with social media companies to identify and remove material.

Hinchcliffe was found to be playing a leading role in a huge cocaine conspiracy responsible for supplying hundreds of kilograms of the Class A drug to the UK. Records seized as part of a Merseyside Police investigation, codenamed Operation Wessex, revealed they transported drugs with a street value of more than £9m between late January and early July 2016.

Officers also seized a £1.4m stash, including more than 9kg of cocaine, 7kg of unadulterated heroin, 10,000 MDMA pills and 11,000 diazepam tablets from the gang. Hinchcliffe and his co-conspirators were arrested in December 2016. Hinchcliffe, formerly of Grasmere Avenue in Noctorum, was found guilty at trial of drug offenses and sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison.

Haigh, formerly of Buttermere Crescent, Rainford, killed a father after a fight over a hunting dog. Haigh, who was 25 when he was convicted of the murder in April 2015, deliberately drove a Jeep Cherokee into Ryan Kennedy and smashed him into a wall.

He claimed he hit his best friend by accident when he was “trying to scare him”. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter but was found guilty of murder. The court heard he left his friend to die in a pile of rubble before going on the run for eight days as he tried to cover his tracks. Haigh was sentenced to a minimum term of 17 years.

Dyer stabbed another man to death in a cocaine-fuelled frenzy before telling shocked witnesses “I’m not a bastard” and speeding off in his car. Stephen Bennett was 28 when he was stabbed in the back with an 8-inch kitchen knife. Dyer claimed he was acting in self-defence during a trial at Liverpool Crown Court – even though his victim was stabbed multiple times and suffered no injuries.

Dyer was said to be “completely calm” after the murder – and sent his father’s help to remove the knife and bloodstained clothes. He was sentenced to a minimum sentence of 21 years in March 2015.

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