Drug bosses 'sent Carlisle's Aaron Giacopazzi for lie test '

The Ford Focus with its high-value cargo was seized because it was untaxed and uninsured - but Carlisle man Aaron Giacopazzi, 35, who was working for the criminals, claimed they wrongly accused him of stealing it.

At Carlisle Crown Court, he accepted that he was dealing drugs but insisted he was involved in selling only half a kilo.

He claimed he had no knowledge of the five kilos of cocaine in the Ford Focus.

But after a half-day trial, a judge ruled that Giacopazzi’s evidence was 'evasive' and dismissed his claim to have known nothing of the true scale of the cocaine consignment in the car as 'not plausible'.

This Ford Focus, parked near Lismore Street, Carlisle, was being used to store cocaine worth nearly £500,000.

The defendant had earlier admitted two counts of possessing the Class A drug with intent to supply in February and March and possessing £20,000 in criminal cash – the profits from his dealing.

He was jailed for 12 years.

'The cocaine was import-level purity'

During a two-hour hearing, Giacopazzi tried to persuade the judge that he was aware of only one kilo of cocaine and implicated in dealing only half that amount and so deserved less blame – and a shorter sentence.

Prosecutor Brendan Burke said the drug dealing came to light after a Ford Focus was seized by the Egertons vehicle recovery firm on February 16 from a Carlisle back street.

Inside the car, police found cocaine worth almost £500,000.

In a ‘Bag for Life’ shopping bag that was in the car, there was a half-kilo block of cocaine and in a North Face rucksack police found three one-kilo blocks of cocaine.

The drug was between 70 and 80 per cent pure. “The crown say the cocaine was import-level purity,” said Mr Burke.

Police also found cocaine which was packaged and ready for sale.

Giacopazzi’s fingerprints were found on the Bag for Life, on one cocaine block, and on one of the wraps of cocaine which had been prepared for sale.

'Import level purity' cocaine was stuffed into this bag for life inside the Ford Focus, the court heard.

The street value of all the cocaine was between £393,000 and £491,000.

Five days after the car was seized, Giacopazzi arrived at Egerton’s Carlisle office and asked about the Focus, claiming it was his.

“The crown say he turned up in the vain hope that he could drive the car away and the further vain hope that by this time the police had not made any discovery,” said Mr Burke.

Police stopped Giacopazzi as he drove his VW car along Upperby Road in Carlisle on March 31.

He was carrying 153g of cocaine and £1,000 in cash. At his Crossways home in Carlisle, officers found £20,000 in cash.

This cocaine was destined for the streets of Carlisle.

When police asked Giacopazzi for the PIN number of his mobile phone, he refused to give it, saying there were 'intimate' pictures on the device of him and his girlfriend that he did not want them to see.

In his evidence, the defendant confirmed that he was jailed in 2016 for dealing class A drugs.

After his release in 2019, he said, he owed a £20,000 debt to his former drug associates, people who could do him 'serious harm.'

Working as an electrician’s mate, he persuaded those associates that he could repay that debt at a rate of £50 per week, he said. But he lost his job and was put 'under pressure' to continue payments.

It was only then, he claimed, that he agreed to deal drugs again. 

Defence barrister Steve McNally asked Giacopazzi: “Are you prepared to tell us who you were dealing on behalf of?”

The defendant replied: “No.”

Asked why, he told the court: “Out of fear for myself.”

He described how the associate came to his home and asked him to deal a kilo of cocaine but said he refused. “I said half a kilo would do,” he said.

Asked about £20,000 at his home, he accepted it was the product of his dealing but said most of it would pay for the drugs he had and only £2,000 would go towards paying off his debt.

A few days after the Focus was seized, Giacopazzi’s drugs associates sent him to London to a lie-detector test centre.

“I knew there was half a kilo of cocaine in the car because he told me that when he was accusing me of taking it,” said the defendant.

He insisted he knew nothing of the five kilo drugs consignment.

Mr McNally said the lie detector episode showed there was somebody 'higher up the chain' of this drug dealing operation, who was directing Giacopazzi.

Mr Burke challenged the defendant’s account, including his claim that he had been repaying £20,000 at £50 per week. “Are you seriously saying that they were happy for you to pay £50 per week?”

Giacopazzi said: “I was making an effort.” Mr Burke said at that rate of payment it would eight years to settle the debt.

Mr Burke said: “They trusted you enough to have control of five kilos of cocaine, didn’t they?”

Giacopazzi said: “No.”

Mr Burke said he refused to give police his phone PIN number because it contained incriminating information.

'You are not accepting responsibility for your offending'

Recorder Tony Hawks rejected the defendant’s basis of plea that he knew nothing of the five kilos of cocaine.

The judge said: “I find the defendant a totally unsatisfactory witness. There were inconsistencies and he was evasive. He had no plausible explanations for certain crucial pieces of evidence.”

The Recorder told Giacopazzi: “You are not accepting responsibility for your offending, which is why we have had to conduct this hearing.”

Though it was accepted he worked legitimately after leaving jail, it was the scale of his subsequent offending that merited a 12-year jail term.

After the case, Cumbria Police's Detective Inspector Duncan Brooker said “Today’s result shows the consequences that await those who are caught being involved in the supply of drugs to our communities.

“We will continue to take robust action to target organised criminality in Cumbria and will pursue those involved at every level.”

Also read: Former drugs criminal Aaron Giacopazzi told to hand over his betting shop winnings