Bathurst couple Aidan Hartnett and Erin Clayton’s double life as major drug dealers revealed
Aidan Hartnett, 24, and Erin Clayton, 22, lived a double life behind their white picket fence in Bathurst where they raised their two-year-old daughter. But they were unaware police were recording their every phone call. READ THE TRANSCRIPTS
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At first they complained about having to deal with junkies “every f**king day”.
But soon the young Bathurst couple living a double life running a large-scale ice syndicate turned their minds towards maximising profits instead of dwelling on the character of their clientele.
Aidan Hartnett, 24, and Erin Clayton, 22, thought they had evaded authorities as they sold thousands of dollars worth of the deadly drug ice from their modest, white-picket fenced suburban home where they raised their two-year-old daughter.
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But unbeknown to them a special police strike force was secretly listening and watching their every move between September 2017 and March last year.
The inside story of how Hartnett became the kingpin of the syndicate supplying meth across Bathurst can now be revealed after he pleaded guilty to large commercial drug supply.
Clayton has pleaded guilty to knowingly participating in a criminal group and will be sentenced next month.
Court documents say Hartnett funnelled a massive 1505 grams of ice in just six months, worth at least $500,000 onto the streets in regional NSW.
SURVEILLANCE
His main place of business was out of the weatherboard home family home in West Bathurst. Police watched him distribute more than $90,000 worth of ice from there in four months.
On one occasion he handed over $31,200 worth of the drug to a buyer in one go.
Agreed facts reveal that Clayton and Hartnett, who were subject to electronic surveillance, discussed the issue of having “junkies coming here every f. king day” three days before Christmas in 2017 after a woman knocked on their door asking for “$50 bucks” and another turned up asking to purchase “two”.
But Clayton soon started to embrace her role in the criminal drug supply trade.
A month later she was recorded complaining to her partner about one of their dealers, saying they were “actually making less money now we have to pay him”.
She later told Hartnett: “He doesn’t work, he’s got shit so what the f**k is he? He’s just lost three grand pretty much”.
On another occasion that month she talked about drugs with Hartnett and an accused dealer. “It’s all packed away … I told you how to do it Aidan … out of the way,” she said.
In one exchange on January 18, Hartnett was recorded telling Clayton he was going to collect “something” from a dealer. When he returned Clayton complained the package he had was “scabby” as it was wrapped in a tissue.
Later Hartnett and Clayton were recorded discussing supply activities and Clayton complained “we are basically losing half an ounce”.
In another conversation Clayton asked Hartnett how much he charged a customer before advising him not to disclose what he had paid for the substance.
Police allege the couple were raking in cash.
At 5.30am on February 7 2018, Hartnett texted Clayton to put a Tarocash bag in a bin out the front of their home after the bins had been emptied. Later that day police pulled over a car on its way to Penrith and seized a plastic black bag full of $45,000.
A week later Clayton was recorded talking about the seizure, lamenting “that could have bought my house”.
By March police had gathered enough evidence to pin their charges and raided the couple’s home, sending shockwaves throughout the Bathurst community.
PERFECT FAMILY
The couple had appeared like the perfect family, praised on social media as being the “cutest little family ever” and posing in photos at Wiggles concerts and at the local pool.
Hartnett had a well-paid job as a labourer and Clayton had enrolled in animal studies at Bathurst TAFE.
Residents of the quiet street where drugs were being dealt out told The Daily Telegraph this week the raid was a shock.
“I’ve lived here for about 15 years — I was surprised, very surprised. You wouldn’t have known, it’s a little bit concerning because it’s so close to the school,” one mother said.
Another woman said the couple gave no hint of their double life.
“They kept it under the radar — you wouldn’t have known that (they) were doing it unless you were zoomed in on it,” she said.
One young woman who knows the couple said Clayton, who has been out on bail since the charges, was still often seen around Bathurst since the raid, loved her young daughter deeply and regularly worked out at a local gym. “She’s a good mum,” the woman said.
And it appears Clayton’s love affair with Hartnett has lasted despite him being in prison for nearly 18 months. The brunette has his name written next to a black heart on her Instagram profile.
Hartnett now faces the possibility of life in prison away from his family, while Clayton could be jailed for up to two years.
Originally published as Bathurst couple Aidan Hartnett and Erin Clayton’s double life as major drug dealers revealed
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