NOTTINGHAM, UK — After nearly five years on the run, John Juniper, 50, has been jailed for his role in a major cocaine supply conspiracy that flooded Nottingham and surrounding areas with high-purity class A drugs.
Juniper, of Eagle Way, Warley, Brentwood, Essex, was arrested earlier this year at Frankfurt Airport in Germany. He had been living in Dubai since fleeing the UK to avoid arrest in November 2020. He was extradited to London in May 2025 and brought before Nottingham Crown Court.
Juniper pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs. He was sentenced to 11 years and 4 months in prison.
Large-Scale Cocaine Distribution
According to prosecutors, Juniper played a high-level role in coordinating multi-kilogram cocaine deliveries from Essex to organized crime gangs in Nottingham and Eastwood, using encrypted EncroChat messages to orchestrate the operation.
One courier was caught with £500,000 in cash
Another was stopped with 3kg of cocaine at 77% purity and over £16,000 in cash
Deliveries took place repeatedly between January and March 2020, just before the COVID-19 lockdown
These operations were tied to two criminal groups — the Kinsella gang and the Eastwood gang — whose members were previously jailed for a combined 160+ years in March 2023.
Judge: ‘You Poured Misery Into the East Midlands’
Sentencing Juniper, Judge Steven Coupland said:
“You were involved at a high level, organising couriers to deliver substantial amounts of cocaine. Your operation used EncroChat to communicate between you. Ultimately, you poured large-scale misery into the East Midlands.”
The judge rejected the claim that the delay in prosecution was a mitigating factor, saying Juniper deliberately absented himself to avoid justice.
Defense: Fear Kept Him Away
Juniper’s lawyer, Roderick James, told the court his client fled out of fear of the consequences. He said Juniper, a father of three, had not seen his youngest daughter since being remanded into custody and was already outside the UK when police began making arrests.
