Bathurst ice kingpin: young father sentenced after undercover cop bust
A young father who ran a high profile ice syndicate with his fiance has been sentenced after selling the drug to an undercover cop.
NSW
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A young father who lived a double life running a large-scale ice syndicate with his fiance has been jailed for seven years after selling the drug to an undercover police officer called “Dave”.
Aidan Hartnett, 24, and Erin Clayton, 22, thought they had eluded authorities for months as they sold massive amounts of meth from their modest Bathurst home where they lived with their young daughter before police arrested them in March last year.
The court was told the syndicate vetted customers but an undercover police officer known as “Dave” won Hartnett’s trust, buying a total of 528g of ice while he wore a wire and even discussing with Hartnett the possibility that another man they knew was an undercover operative.
Known as “the boss” to other syndicate members, Hartnett funnelled a total of 1505g of ice – worth at least $450,000 – onto the streets of regional NSW between September 2017 and March last year, according to police facts.
Outwardly, he and Clayton had appeared like an average young couple on their social media accounts, posting photos as they celebrated their engagement and taking their daughter to her first Wiggles concert.
But unbeknown to them a special police strike force was secretly listening and watching their every move, recording the couple complaining about junkies coming to their home “every f***ing day”.
After their arrests in March 2018 Harnett pleaded guilty to supplying a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and Clayton pleaded guilty to knowingly participating in a criminal group.
Clayton was sentenced to a 10-month intensive corrections order in Bathurst Local Court on September 2.
In sentencing on Friday, Judge Graham Turnbull told Harnett to stand and blasted him for denying his daughter a father for years because of his offending
“You have deprived your daughter of you for a period (for as long as) she’s already been on the planet … that’s a punishment,” he said.
“This is a terrible drug – I would expect you to know that – I just want to make sure you understand the seriousness of your offending.
“The threat to individual users in the community is an aspect which clearly flows from drugs of this purity being regularly sold.
“Do the right thing to achieve the best result when parole is offered to you – otherwise there’s many more years to go.”
Mr Turnbull said Hartnett knew his daughter would be affected by his jailing.
“She has been deprived of her father … sadly, that is a side effect of criminal activity,” Mr Turnbull said.
“I do accept (Hartnett) ruminates on the consequences of his incarceration on his daughter – it is a burden he will have to bear.”
Hartnett’s seven year sentence has a non-parole period of four years and eight months and he will be first eligible for parole on October 7, 2022, with time already served since his arrest in March, 2018.
He smiled to Clayton from the dock before he was led away into the cells.