Former £1m drug boss 'thought he was too clever for the police'

John Burton knew he could make millions from ecstasy within hours of taking his first pill

It took former drug baron John Burton just a couple of hours to realise he could make millions of pounds selling ecstasy.

First arriving in the late 1980s, there was a huge boom in the class A drug thanks to the growing club scene in the city.

Partygoers would travel across the UK to experience a high at Cream and Quadrant Park.

But unbeknownst to clubbers, ecstasy was bringing in a new breed of money-hungry criminals.

At just 18 years old John Burton moved into the ecstasy market.

Starting off, Mr Burton sold drugs inside all-night raves, before developing supply routes across the UK, and finally manufacturing his own pills.

Speaking to the ECHO, prior to his episode on Liverpool Narcos, Mr Burton explained how growing up in the shadow of mass unemployment lead him to a life of crime.

He said: "In the ’80s in Liverpool especially where I grew up unemployment was at its highest levels.

"It was hard enough for some of our parents to get jobs never mind us as teenagers who had come away from school with no qualifications and not many options of employment.

"Unfortunately for me, I was already involved in criminality from an early age. I was a person who wanted to get involved in criminality as I knew there was lots of money in it but I didn’t understand the consequences at the time which was a silly move later in life for me.

"So at an early age, I was selling bits of weed, just the normal stuff at the time.

"That was until the late 80’s when ecstasy arrived in Liverpool. This is when we saw a big change in the nightclubs in the city and already being involved in the drug world, people taking ecstasy would mean there was money to be made and that is why we got into selling ecstasy and it was a free weekend and we enjoyed the party life as well."

At first, Mr Burton was dealing a few hundred pills at the likes of Quadrant Park.

He said: "A lot of the people who were coming into Liverpool from out of town to the Quad wanted to buy ecstasy and at the time the money you could earn on ecstasy would get you a full weekend out and a brand new trackie and pair of trainers and when your not working and want a night out it was drug money that was paying for it."

However, after learning the tricks of the trade, Mr Burton started to scale up his business, selling tens of thousands of pills.

He admits he enjoyed the luxury lifestyle the drugs trade brought him - but looking back now, Mr Burton says it was a mistake.

He said: "If I had the brains that I have now, I would never have got into selling drugs.

"I spent most of my life involved in the drug world and I always wanted to get bigger and make more money because when you’re making money you want to invest to make more money and it becomes a sort of greed and to be honest the buzz that came with it felt good at the time.

"By the time I was 23, 24-years-old I started investing in buying bigger amounts of ecstasy and wanting to be earning more money as my motto was 'try and get as much out of it as you can now and get out of it' – but that didn’t happen in my time.

"I just wanted to be stupid, carrying on buying silly cars, houses and watches - showing everyone and the police what I was doing."

Assuming he was beyond the reach of the law, Mr Burton masterminded a £1m conspiracy which supplied cannabis, cocaine and amphetamine to street dealers in South Wales and the West Midlands.

But the law soon caught up to him and one morning police burst into his home and arrested him in front of his family.

He was sentenced to nine and a half years jail in 2012 and stripped of the homes and businesses he had acquired from drugs during a Proceeds of Crime hearing.

It was then Mr Burton decided to turn his back on crime.

John said: "When you have been involved in crime as long as I have and you have had as much jail as I’ve had you think to yourself as you are getting older why have I put myself, my family and my friends through it?

"I did it because I thought I was going to get a better life out of it but in reality, I took 10 years away from me and my kids, my family and my friends- all because I wanted to be someone who would stand out in a crowd, drive a nice car, have a nice house and spend money like there was no tomorrow.

"Both times I have been arrested I have also been hit with two POCA’s [Proceeds of Crime Act] and both times had all my assets, bank accounts and everything else taken away from me.

"I always thought I was too clever for the police, hiding what I could. I got my family and friends into trouble and some sent to prison, with their savings and houses taken off them. All because I got involved in the drug world."

Mr Burton was released from prison in 2017 and soon set up a social enterprise Inside Connections which helps ex-prisoners, those leaving the care system and the armed forces get accommodation and employment.

However, Mr Burton says it took a couple of years for people to really recognise his good intentions.

He said: "It took two or three years after my release for people to 100% believe that I am committed to what I am doing today with prisoner rehabilitation and I understand that reaction.

"Coming from a criminal world into a straight world, a lot of people wrote me off or wouldn’t give me a chance but I respect the people that did give me that chance and I took it and will never let go of it."

So far, Inside Connections has helped 217 people get training and employment, 128 of those were released from prison and have remained out of prison and/or in employment – this is a saving to the public purse of £4,095,000.

Mr Burton has also now decided to tell his side of the story on the new Sky Documentaries series Liverpool Narcos.

He hopes his episode will highlight the true reality of drug dealing and the misery it brings to communities.

Mr Burton said: "Being involved in a criminal felt good for a certain amount of time, but you’re always looking over your shoulder no matter what, when the going is good it all seems rosy but that won’t last for long, you know deep down that one day police are going to come through your door but until that happens you think you’re too clever.

"I thought I was too clever because I didn’t keep anything around me or in my name but the police had every bit of intelligence on me to put me in prison for a long time and took everything away from me.

"The message I want people to get from it is, think about it logically, does a short spree in crime pay?

"It will do for a while before the police come hammering through your doors, then you looking at spending 10 or 20 years away because today prison sentences are getting bigger and bigger all the time.

"Or does working for an honest living wage pay in the long run? The answer to that question is yes, and I wish I had known this a long time ago or had someone like myself to educate someone who is like me about what they’ve been through."

Liverpool Narcos is available on-demand on Sky Documentaries and streaming service Now.