Bradley Bowtell: Ex-Nomads boss caught supplying ice for bikie gang after leaving its ranks
Former Nomads chapter president Bradley Bowtell said he turned his life around after leaving the outlaw gang, despite being caught up in an ice supply ring.
Newcastle
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A former bikie boss has been jailed for supplying ice on behalf of the Nomads, long after he claimed to have separated from the outlaw gang.
Bradley Robert Bowtell, 37, previously pleaded guilty in Newcastle District Court to one count of drug supply and two counts of possessing a restricted drug.
Hunter Valley detectives pounced on Bowtell’s Singleton Heights home in the early morning of November 1, 2019, after he’d come to their attention in a series of police phone taps.
Detectives found 101.85 grams of methylamphetamine, or ice, hidden in a tennis ball tube in the home Bowtell lived in alone.
They also found vials of testosterone and trenbolone, both steroids, in his kitchen.
During sentencing on Thursday, Bowtell told the court he’d left the Nomads, and his role as the club’s Newcastle City chapter president, in August that year.
His departure from the club came after he was sentenced to an intensive corrections order for participating in a criminal group, and four community corrections orders for contravening a serious crime prevention order.
The orders came with strict conditions, banning Bowtell from associating with the Nomads, attending club functions, possessing club paraphernalia, or committing further crimes.
Bowtell said he’d parted ways with his bikie mates by the time he was charged with supply, two-and-a-half months later.
“I wasn’t involved, I wasn’t participating in any sort of club activity,” he said.
“I was in the process of getting out of it.
“I was doing everything I could to leave.”
Prosecutor David Hoitink asked: “So you weren’t participating in any club activity, but you still had 100 grams of ice in your garage?”
Judge Roy Ellis interjected: “He was participating in the club activity of supplying, but not participating in the club activity of socialising.”
The court heard Bowtell had no criminal history prior to joining the Nomads in 2014, but had been charged with drug driving, twice possessing steroids, and using a carriage service to menace or harass between 2016 and 2019.
Bowtell said he’d turned his life around since leaving the gang, starting his own concreting business and rebuilding relationships with his mother and young son.
“I’ve got a lot more to live for these days than worrying about club life,” he said.
Judge Ellis sentenced Bowtell to two years and three months behind bars for the supply charge, with a non-parole period of 12 months.
The two possession charges were taken into account in the sentencing decision.
Earlier
Former Nomads bikie busted in home drug operation
By Amy Ziniak on March 19, 2021
A former top ranking bikie has pleaded guilty to drug supply after attempts to hide his stash in a tennis ball container was not enough to evade police suspicion.
Bradley Bowtell, the former chapter president of Newcastle’s Nomads bikie gang, had been dealing ‘ice’ out of his Singleton Heights home in 2019, discovered only after police tapped the phones of other alleged offenders in a covert operation into Upper Hunter criminal groups.
Bright and early on November 1, 2019, Strike Force Axel detectives — assisted by anti-bikie unit Strike Force Raptor North — raided Bowtell’s Madden Ave property, where they discovered a large number of drugs and steroids.
The heavily-tattooed former bikie, then-aged 35 was present as officers went from room to room in their search.
Police facts detailed how they located two small glass vials labelled ‘Testosterone Cypronate’ in the kitchen.
Once examined, they were found to contain 4.6 grams of testosterone and 5.5 grams of trenbolone.
While in the garage, a cylindrical tennis ball container was sitting in plain view on a shelf.
Once opened, officers discovered one of the tennis balls had been removed and replaced with plastic packaging, which later was discovered to be 102 grams of methylamphetamine, estimated to be a street value of more than $50,000.
At first, Bowtell denied the meth was his, suggesting someone else may have placed it in his shed because he left the back roller door open, according to police facts.
But police didn’t buy it and he was charged with supplying a commercial quantity of drugs and drug possession relating to the steroids.
After pleading not guilty last year, with a trial date set to be later this year, Bowtell recently changed his plea.
He pleaded guilty to drug supply, whilst two counts of drug possession will be taken into account on sentencing and two drug possession charges were dropped.
He’ll be sentenced in Newcastle’s District Court next month.
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