Wayne Purtell: Convicted Darwin meth kingpin ordered to serve rest of sentence after drug breach

A meth dealer and suspected manufacturer who was jailed for a maximum of seven years and six months in 2020 has been sent back to the slammer after drug detectives found him in possession of contraband.

Former rural area drug dealer Wayne Purtell. Picture: Zizi Averill

A Darwin meth dealer and suspected manufacturer who was jailed for a maximum of seven years and six months in 2020 has been sent back to the slammer after drug detectives found him in possession of contraband.

Jingili man Wayne Maurice Purtell, 53, appeared in Darwin Local Court on Monday charged with three offences, the possession of methamphetamine, knuckledusters and a glass smoking pipe, which he pleaded guilty to.

Detectives from the Drug and Organised Crime Unit executed a search warrant at Purtell’s Jingili residence last Wednesday, where they discovered the knuckledusters, ice pipe and 0.2g of methamphetamine secreted in the his wallet.

He was granted bail, but on Friday had his parole revoked.

Purtell had about 26 months left to serve on his original sentence, which was passed in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory at Darwin on January 3, 2020.

On that occasion, Purtell pleaded guilty to the sale of more than $400,000 of meth over a 12-month period, and to the possession of a trafficable amount of various drugs, drug paraphernalia and firearms.

Former rural area drug dealer Wayne Purtell. Picture: Zizi Averill

Included among the haul was 11 pages of handwritten meth recipes and glass cookware.

Purtell denied ever cooking meth, claiming he was simply possessing it on behalf of another, but this was not accepted by Chief Justice Michael Grant.

Purtell was granted parole in April this year, shortly before he testified at the coronial inquest into the suspicious 2016 death of Richard Roe.

His lawyer Joshua Begbie told the court his client, who had been a lifelong addict, had kept clean for the first four months following his release, but the stress of being a full-time carer to his infirm mother, who lives with dementia, caused him to relapse.

“By the time he gets out of jail, if she is still alive, she won’t remember him,” Mr Begbie said.

Judge Julie Franz sentenced Purtell to one month imprisonment on the three new offences, cumulative on the unserved portion of his previous sentence, meaning Purtell will be released in January 2027.

Originally published as Wayne Purtell: Convicted Darwin meth kingpin ordered to serve rest of sentence after drug breach