Skip to content

Fake workmen dug up roads to power cannabis farms

Jonny Humphries
BBC News
Reporting fromLiverpool Crown Court
NWROCU A man wearing yellow high-vis overalls and a woolly hat crouches over a hole in the pavement. He is surrounded by blue plastic barriers. A power cable is sparking and bursting into flames in front of him.NWROCU
The men used a registered utility company to hide in plain sight their illegal activities, some of which caused fires and explosions

Criminals used a registered utility company as cover to dig up the streets and supply electricity to cannabis farms on behalf of Albanian gangsters.

Bosses Ross McGinn, from Merseyside, and Andrew Roberts, from Greater Manchester, were among eight men sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court for a conspiracy involving at least 54 locations across England and Wales.

They operated in plain sight between November 2020 and February 2024, posing as legitimate workmen with liveried vans, barriers and signage. They even closed some roads.

McGinn was jailed for five years and four months while Roberts was sentenced to six years after admitting encouraging or assisting the production of cannabis, conspiracy to abstract electricity and conspiracy to steal.

'Slipshod and dangerous'

Both 33-year-old McGinn, of Midway Road in Huyton, and 42-year-old Roberts, of Bell Lane in Wigan, had previously served prison time for drug dealing.

The men were directors of a company called Elev8 Civils and Utilities Ltd, which roped in the other conspirators on a job-by-job basis.

They connected disused houses, pubs, shops, a nightclub and, in one case, a disused department store in north Wales, to the electricity grid.

The buildings were later filled with thousands of cannabis plants.

Passing sentence, Judge David Potter said the men had shown "little or no regard to safety".

The court heard the workmanship shown by the gang had been "slipshod" and dangerous in quality.

Photographs recovered from their phones showed one of them, Andrew Roberts, with serious burns to his forehead that had been caused by an explosion.

NWROCU A man in a blue jacket shows off a large burn on his forehead, which shows blackened and dark red skinNWROCU
Andrew Roberts suffered burns after poor quality cable joining work caused a small explosion

Prosecutor Henry Riding told the court police had discovered cannabis farms worth about £21m linked to work carried out by the gang.

When police in Wales found two Albanian men hiding in a loft, they were told they had been victims of human trafficking.

The court heard it was only after people in Bangor reported suspicious activity around an abandoned department store on the High Street that the conspiracy began to unravel.

North Wales Police raided the premises on 30 January 2023 and found a huge and sophisticated cannabis farm, with more than 1,000 plants growing in rooms heated by stolen electricity.

A check of CCTV in the area captured a group of men digging up the pavement on High Street.

Detectives had a valuable lead – the registration number of a van linked to Elev8.

NWROCU A police officer pulls back a fabric covering to find rows of cannabis plants held up by string.NWROCU
Police found a cannabis farm containing 1,000 plants in a disused shop in Bangor, North Wales

The case was passed to the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU), who got a further break when they realised one of the men who played a "supervisory role", Greg Black from Huyton, had been arrested in October 2022 for an unrelated offence and had his phone seized.

Detectives discovered a WhatsApp group in which "work" opportunities were discussed and shared by Black, McGinn and Andrew Roberts.

Also involved in the conspiracy was Scottish Power engineer Colin White, from Wavertree in Liverpool.

The now 62-year-old grandfather stole equipment from Scottish Power's Liverpool depot to use in the illegal works, and was in regular contact with McGinn and Roberts.

Peter White, defending Colin White (no relation), said his client had "another side to him" and, while working as a doorman, had once received a bravery award from Merseyside Police for saving a young woman's life from a knife attack.

He was jailed for two-and-a-half years after admitting conspiracy to steal and encouraging or assisting the abstraction of electricity.

NWROCU Two police mugshots show Ross McGinn, who has brown hair and a brown beard, and Andrew Roberts, who has ginger hair and facial hair. Both look into the camera with blank expressions.NWROCU
Ross McGinn and Andrew Roberts were directors of utility company Elev8

Prosecutors said Graham Roberts, nicknamed Ganny and no relation no Andrew Roberts, was the "skilled worker" of the group.

He was described by Mr Riding as "undoubtedly crucial" to the conspiracy despite others in the gang complaining in colourful terms about his workmanship.

Mr Riding said Graham Roberts often featured in videos and photos taken by the group to show crime bosses running the cannabis farms that work had been carried out.

The 47-year-old and of Ryton Close in Wigan, was jailed for five years and three months.

NWROCU Police mugshots of Colin White, who has thinning grey and black hair and a grey beard, and Graham Roberts, who has grey and brown stubble and a bald head.NWROCU
Colin White (left), a Scottish Power engineer, stole equipment used by men including Graham Roberts (right), who injured himself in an electrical explosion

Frank Dillon, representing McGinn, said his client had begun working legitimately following his release from prison for drugs offences in 2016.

McGinn was then said to have started experiencing "cash-flow difficulties".

The court heard he began to take on work through a British middleman who police said had connections with Albanian gangsters running the cannabis farms.

Jim Smith, defending Andrew Roberts, said his client was adamant that Elev8 was not simply set up to further the conspiracy but had also been doing legitimate work.

The other defendants convicted were:

  • Greg Black, 29, from Brookwood Close in Huyton, was jailed for three years and nine months
  • Lewin Charles, 22, of Stanhope Drive in Roby, was jailed for two years and eight months
  • Aiden Doran, 28, of Ormskirk Road in Wigan, was jailed for three years
  • Jack Sherry, 20, of Keats Avenue in Wigan, was jailed for 22 months, suspended for 18 months

All admitted encouraging or assisting the production of cannabis and conspiracy to abstract electricity.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.