#353. Corrupt Police Drug Sting Got Me 9 Years in Prison & Lost £12M - Anthony Noble

Dodge Woodall Network

Anthony Noble recounts his descent into heavy cocaine and gambling addiction following a high-stakes drug sting involving corrupt police off

Key takeaways

• Anthony was caught in a major corruption investigation after delivering an ounce of cocaine to a known corrupt officer.
• He served approximately 18 months in prison, experiencing the intense environment of Wandsworth and High Point.

Main topics

• Corrupt police investigations
• Cocaine addiction

Notable quotes

If I hadn't have gone to prison, I'd probably be dead by now.

Conclusion

A raw and vulnerable look at how addiction can dismantle even the most

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) How did you end up getting banged up for Speaker 2 (0:01) four years? Where do I start? Corrupt police, drugs. Where do you Speaker 1 (0:06) want Speaker 2 (0:06) me to start? I was a drug addict. I was serving up to drug dealers at the time and I remember bumping into a guy. I knew he was a copper and he was dodgy as f***. Surely you're thinking you're getting set up here? I thought I was invincible. I didn't realise I'd been dragged into some big f***ing investigation involving a corruption squad. There was people who escaped from Cat Deep Prison. I wasn't part of any of that. I just went around there to drop off a lump of gear and I ended up getting pulled into this f***. the whole investigation. What was it like being inside? Within 45 minutes of being there, I've seen someone getting slashed on the ones. I'm thinking, what the f***? If anything, prison probably saved my life at that time. If I hadn't have gone to prison, I'd probably be dead by now. How addicted were you to cocaine? I had it like you would have breakfast. Three grams a day, every day, seven days a week, about a foul. Easy. Easy. Were you at your peak of using before you got addicted? No. No, it got a lot worse. Speaker 1 (1:01) Hey guys, we've been running this podcast now for five and a half years. We've had some most amazing business guests on here. Simon Squibb, Daniel Priestley, Barry Hearn. The list just goes on and on from billionaires to people who have built brands. If you want to come on the podcast and talk about your business and sit here with me in the studio and tell your story, go check out dodgewoodall.com forward slash guest and check out the three minute video. We've also left the link below as well. Anthony, welcome to the show, mate. Hello mate, how you doing Dodge? Very good, very good. Looking forward to this one mate. Let's roll all the way back. How did you end up getting banged up for four years? Speaker 2 (1:37) Fuck mate, where do I start? Corrupt police, drugs, yeah, where do you want me to start? Start from... How old Speaker 1 (1:47) were you when you got banged up? I was, by the time I got sentenced, I was 30. Okay. So tell me the story Speaker 2 (1:54) leading up to it. So I was serving up to drug dealers at the time. I was a drug addict. I got in a lot of debt. So I started serving up to pay for my habit. And I was just serving up to drug dealers at the time. And I remember bumping into a guy. I knew he was a copper, and he was dodgy as fuck. So he asked for a bit of work. So I didn't think anything more of it. I just thought, well, fuck it. I'll earn a few quid out of it. I'll throw it around now. Speaker 1 (2:28) So you knew he was Old Speaker 2 (2:29) Bill? I knew he was Old Bill, but I knew he was Speaker 1 (2:31) corrupt. He was bent, Speaker 2 (2:32) was he? Yeah, he was bent as fuck. Speaker 1 (2:33) Okay. Speaker 2 (2:34) Was there no alarm bells there at all, even though he was bent? Mate, at the time, I was always fucking out my nut. Speaker 1 (2:39) Okay. Speaker 2 (2:39) So my gut, I never went with my gut. I just went with the fucking money. So I just thought, oh, I'll make a few quid. But that is funny because I'll never forget that day when I did get nicked because I had a phone call in the morning. He rang me saying, you got any of that gear? I said, yeah, I got some. What was it? What's that? What gear was it? Coke. Coke, okay. Yeah, so he said to me, you got any of that white gear? And I said, yeah, I got some. But I was there at the time. I was working. So I thought, I'll drop it around there later. But all day I had this fucking feeling in my gut like, I can't, don't do it. I don't know, I just had an off feeling that day and I don't know why but I kept saying, oh fuck it, you're going to make a few quid, go, go, just do it. So I drove to where I had it, picked it up, dropped it around now and he didn't have enough money at the time so I'm arguing with him in his house about the gear. I've left, about half hour later, undercover old Bills pulled me over trying to tell you that I was speeding down the road. I'm thinking, I ain't fucking speeding because I've got gear in the back of the van. So I've never been nicked in my life. So they started saying, oh, do you mind if we search the car in the van? I said, no, no, it's fine. So they do in the front. They opened up my wallet and they found a wrap in there. And it was like 0.007. It was like a crumb. And that was enough to take me in. And they're saying, oh, you're under arrest. And I was thinking, oh, just get me away from this van. There's a bit more gear in the back of the van. In like fire alarm panels, I stuck it. I remember the old bill opened the fucking side door of the van and I cleared a job that day on site. And the fucking eldest shit fell out. And he went, fuck me, I ain't going in there. And he just started pulling it all back in, shut the door. I didn't think anything of it. I didn't know what was going on. So, been arrested. Interview, 23 hours later, I let out whatever I interviewed again. Battled me for six months. But after I come out, I realised that the old builder, Copper, he'd been nicked as well. And so they'd done like a raid on, I don't know how many people, there was a lot of people that night got raided. I didn't realise I'd been dragged into some big fucking investigation involving Corruption Squad. There was people escaped from Kat Dee Prison. there was police cars being used and used and raiding cannabis farms. It was fake raids. But I wasn't, I didn't know any, I wasn't part of any of that. I just went around there to drop off a lump of gear. Yeah. And I ended up getting pulled into this fucking whole investigation. My God. So. How much gear did Speaker 1 (5:14) you drop off? Speaker 2 (5:15) It Speaker 1 (5:16) wasn't even much. It was like fucking an Speaker 2 (5:17) ounce. It was such Speaker 1 (5:18) stupid. Speaker 2 (5:18) It Speaker 1 (5:18) wasn't even, it wasn't even a lot of Speaker 2 (5:19) work. So. Like I say, so I got bailed six months. Then I went back. And I remember going in there and my barrister said to me, right, is there any DVDs or videos or anything or Speaker 1 (5:33) recordings? I said, Speaker 2 (5:34) listen, I don't even know your fucking name. I've never been nicked in my life. I remember sitting in the police having an interview. And I sat down and went, right, DVD number one. I was like, fuck. It's me walking in his house. The corruption squad had broken into this copper's house. and put cameras and microphones all around his ass, and we'd been calling him for months. So me dropping that gear off was like the final blow to the hammer, and everyone got nicked that night. So you Speaker 1 (6:02) got caught up in something? I got caught up in something. Speaker 2 (6:04) No, I was just a fucking, I used to serve up to drug dealers, like ounces, half ounces, fucking half bars, whatever, just to pay for my habit. And then I've been dragged into this big investigation, and my parents, found out that I was a drug dealer from like the six o'clock news, the 10 o'clock news. They tried to make it out bigger than it was, I think personally. But Speaker 1 (6:29) that's what normally happens, right? Speaker 2 (6:30) Yeah. Like they were saying Southeast London gangsters and I was thinking, fuck me, I'm a dancer. I'm not. Listen, I danced from the age of six years old. I've traveled the world dancing. I loved cocaine. It was the only thing in my life that made me feel safe, happy, confident, it numbed pain, it gave me relief, it gave me everything that I couldn't get from normal life and it just grabbed me by the bollocks and now I'm involved in something that, alright, maybe I should have been involved in because I was there and I'd done what I'd done. Speaker 2 (7:08) Yeah, my parents were fucking distraught, mate. I bet. Because they don't know anything about drugs. And I remember seeing my dad. So I got released, went round his house, and I thought, I better face up to it. And he said to me, are you using? And I started laughing because I was nervous. I went, I ain't fucking hearing, mate. And Speaker 1 (7:27) he fucking banged the table and went, how do I know you cunt? Really? And I Speaker 2 (7:32) see my dad's face. I've never seen my dad look at me like that. It was like shame and guilt. Speaker 2 (7:39) And I thought I'm in so much fucking shit and trouble now because of that fucking stuff. And I did sort of stop sniffing. But I was on bail for... Sort Speaker 1 (7:48) of stop? Speaker 2 (7:49) Yeah, Speaker 1 (7:50) I stopped for quite a while. Once Speaker 2 (7:52) you got bailed? Once I was on bail. I just thought, you know what, I need to stop this shit. So I did stop. And it was through willpower and probably fear. Speaker 2 (8:05) And then I'd have to sign in. And the bail just kept getting extended, extended, extended. Because there were so many people involved in it. How long Speaker 1 (8:13) were you on bail for? What's that feeling like being on bail and not knowing the answer? Speaker 2 (8:16) Three years. And I had to sign in. You had that cloud over your head for three years of not knowing. I started seeing a girl. And I kept telling her, listen, I'm going to get suspended sentence. Because I had to be straight with her. But our whole relationship was basically... bullshit because we didn't know what I was going to get. We didn't know and I just kept, I'm always cut my arse full and I'd always underplay it because I couldn't cope with anything. I'd just be like, it'll be alright, everything's alright, it's always alright. But I had to sign into the police station every couple of days just to make sure. They put you on tag as well? No. No, okay. No, they didn't put me on tag. I got tagged after I'd come out of prison. So, yeah, about three years. I was on bail. And then I remember being in the dock and where there was so many of us, because I went guilty. When I see that evidence, I just thought, what? I'm fucked. There's no, I was talking about gear. I'm talking about going fucking Florida the next day, which was me. And you couldn't deny it. My nose, you know, on Speaker 1 (9:20) the Speaker 2 (9:20) videos, the voice. So I just, the only opportunity I could have when it went to court, I just went guilty. So I went guilty. And, I remember being in the court and my sister went and my missus at the time and the whole day was just about going through the court, what happened and the summary. And the judge actually said, listen, I haven't got time to sentence you all today. So I'm going to let you all go home for one more night. And I trust you're going to come back because some of you will be going to prison tomorrow. So I thought, fucking hell, one more night. Speaker 1 (9:59) Lovely. What did I do? Just got fucking straight on the pack here. And Speaker 2 (10:03) then I remember waking up in the morning before court, having a boot before I went to court. And then I got sentenced. And I was like, I remember my sister crying. My miss at the time crying. But for me, it was like fucking relief. Yeah. Got your answer. Speaker 1 (10:19) I Speaker 2 (10:19) got my answer. Yeah. I mean, so. Off to prison I went. Do you know what I mean? I've got four years. Obviously, I've got good behaviour. I served 18 months. I've done four and a half months out on tag. Speaker 1 (10:35) And I come out all right. Do you know what I mean? What's that feeling like when you're actually sat in the dock and you've got your family around you? Your old man and mum there as well? No, I told them not to go. Not to go, okay. People around you. And then they've just gone, boom, Anthony, four years. Did your heart sink or was it relief? Were you thinking you were going to get more or were you thinking you were going to Speaker 2 (10:57) get Speaker 1 (10:57) less? Was it a bonus for? Mate, they Speaker 2 (10:59) started off quite high. Speaker 1 (11:00) Yeah. Speaker 2 (11:01) And then they started reducing it because I went guilty. So I got a third off. Then they reduced it again because I'd been on bail for so long. And to be honest with you, Dodge, it was just a fucking relief. Yeah. It would have been like three years over my head. I couldn't move on with my life. I didn't know what I was getting. I've never been to prison. I never thought about going to prison. And I was lost. So if anything, prison probably saved my life at that time because I didn't know who the fuck I was anymore. And I've always said like, I would never want to go back. It's a waste of life. But I think if I hadn't have gone to prison, I'd probably be dead by now. How Speaker 1 (11:43) addicted were you to cocaine and how much at Speaker 2 (11:45) peak were you using in one day? Before prison or after? Before. Before prison, I was probably doing two, three grams a day, every day, seven days a week without fail. Easy. Easy. Easy. Like, I had it like you would have breakfast. It's... I tried to... I've tried to work back how I got addicted. Listen. Cocaine makes you fucking feel good. There's no two ways about it. So if you do something that makes you feel good, you're going to want more of it. Yeah. So I remember I lived in Australia. I went to Australia from the age of 16, come back, and I'd lived there for four years. I built relationships, friends. I had my own home. Then I got thrown out of Australia because I'd overstayed my welcome. I had to go back to my parents' house. I got no job, no career. I don't know what to do. I didn't realise I was depressed. I never heard that word. But I look back now and I was so fucking depressed. My mates were in the pub every night after work having a couple of beers. On a Friday the old packet comes out. I thought, fuck it, I'll give a go. And for the first time in a long while I felt good. Speaker 1 (12:52) Okay. Speaker 2 (12:52) And I think, and it just grabbed, some of my mates stopped. But it took hold of me in a massive way. It's been, it was a massive part of my life for 18 years. Yeah. Like on and off. Do you know what's weird? Speaker 1 (13:05) Like the same conversation I hear a lot coming on here. If that gear gets old of you, it's got old of you. Speaker 2 (13:11) Mate. And Speaker 1 (13:12) if you're an addictive personality, which none of us know we're addictive personality growing up, if it's got old of you and you're thinking, I'll keep coming back to that, I'll keep coming back to that, your life don't get better. Yeah. Does it? It doesn't get better. You get more in debt, you get more ag, you get more troubles, more chaos, there's more everything going on around you. My mate used to say to me, your life is like fucking EastEnders. Speaker 2 (13:31) Yeah. And it's weird. Mate, my life was drama. It was non-stop. Yeah. But you enjoyed the Speaker 1 (13:36) drama. Speaker 2 (13:36) You know what? At Speaker 1 (13:37) the Speaker 2 (13:37) time, it just felt the norm. Like now my life is the completely other spectrum. But when people stop doing drugs, one of the first things they say to me, oh, it's going to be boring. I say, life is going to be different. But if you're always reacting to life, you've actually got no control over it. You're just constantly reacting. And it's not going to be preaching about it, but my life was a fucking mess. I was fucking anything walking. I was womanising. I was sniffing every day. And then I'd go for a run and tell myself that I'm healthy. Speaker 1 (14:11) The counterbalance. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Speaker 2 (14:14) But it was all for show because I was like, not a secret sniffer, but... my mates never really pulled me aside and said, listen, you've got a problem. Because Speaker 1 (14:24) blokes don't do that. Yeah. Speaker 2 (14:26) Yeah. So. Especially back then. No, not at all. They just knew me as. What year were you talking? Oh, fuck me. I'm 43 now. So I was sniffing from the age of like 20. Non-stop. Speaker 1 (14:40) Non Speaker 2 (14:40) -stop. Yeah. So Speaker 1 (14:41) I had Speaker 2 (14:42) a Speaker 1 (14:42) good. And you got banged up in what year? I was 30. No, but what year was it? 2010, 2012? Speaker 2 (14:47) What were you in? 2020. Seven now, aren't we? Speaker 1 (14:51) Six. Speaker 2 (14:56) 2026. So I was 30, so 13 years ago. So 2014. 13, okay. Speaker 1 (15:02) I want to go back to the bit. Like, you're not daft. Yeah. But serving up to a copper is daft. Mate, Speaker 2 (15:10) I look back... Even if he is a Roman copper. Mate, 100%. Like, Speaker 1 (15:13) fucking, what were you thinking? Mate, 100%. I look back now and I think, you're an absolute mug. Speaker 2 (15:16) Yeah. But the thing is, Dodge, I'm not going to lie to you. Like, I thought I was invincible. Okay. Like, driving around with a stupid amount of cash under my seat and thinking that I was just like Barry Bigbollocks. Speaker 2 (15:33) but that's what the gear done to me. It made me feel that way. But then as soon as I come off of it, I'm a shadow of Speaker 1 (15:37) a Speaker 2 (15:37) person, but I didn't look at that as a risk. I looked at that as a, I'm going to make a few quid. Speaker 1 (15:45) Selling gear to a copper. Speaker 2 (15:46) Yeah. Like, he knew, I can't quite get Speaker 1 (15:49) my head around this little bit. Like, this is the bit I think. All right, I'll look back now. Thanks. Sorry. Sorry, Andy. I love your bits, but mate, like, like. Speaker 1 (16:01) What we think, like, why? Even if you heard it, Speaker 2 (16:05) he Speaker 1 (16:05) was going to get a pound note. You want to earn 500 quid or a grand or a couple of grand, whatever, whatever it may be. Surely, surely, surely, surely, you're thinking you're getting set up here. Walked Speaker 2 (16:18) you Speaker 1 (16:18) straight to a trap. You know what? Because I knew he was so corrupt. How do you know he's corrupt? Speaker 2 (16:23) Who told you? He's... My mate Dave. Dave's down at Speaker 1 (16:27) the pub and he never lives. He never lives. Speaker 2 (16:32) No, he had friends of friends, like very close friends of mine were like his best friends. Okay. And I knew what he was up to on other bits and pieces. But Speaker 1 (16:41) do Speaker 2 (16:41) you not think Speaker 1 (16:41) that's what undercover old Bill do? Mate, alright, I look back now and it is fucking stupidity. Yeah. Speaker 2 (16:47) But at the time, I didn't, I didn't think. Speaker 1 (16:50) Yeah. Speaker 2 (16:51) Like, even with my gut feeling that day, it told me a hundred fucking times, don't do it, don't do it. And I just ignored it. Speaker 1 (16:58) But Speaker 2 (16:58) then again, I always say, like, I'm glad I went Speaker 1 (17:02) through that. Like, everything I've been through in my life, which we're obviously going to get to. It was a good reason that happened. Slow you down. Were you at your peak of using before you got nicked? No, no. It got a lot worse. So when you got nicked, you went away. You got a four. Yeah, I got a four. You did what, 18 months? Yeah, Speaker 2 (17:21) I got just under four. Speaker 1 (17:22) Yeah. Speaker 2 (17:22) I've done 18 months inside. Yeah. And then I've done four and a half months on tag. Okay. Yeah, and then I'll come back clean. What was it like being inside? I always describe it like a pub. I'm not tough. I'm not going to go in there and act like a fucking gangster because I ain't. I'm more of a joker. I kept my head down, smashed the gym. I went in there a little bit chubby, come out pretty shredded. I ate well. And I just was me. I'm not going to pretend I'm something I'm not. And I found it all right. I always say to people, it's like going to the pub. If you want to ride with someone, you can do it. You'll find it. What I did find in there is there'd Speaker 1 (17:59) be Speaker 2 (17:59) people come onto the wing or a wing that you're on and they talk a lot. They give it all to Barry. And then people put two and two together and think, hold on a minute, that doesn't add up. That is one of the things I've found. And all of a sudden, one minute he's top of the wing, the funny guy, and then all of a sudden people want to keep fucking filling him in because they found out he's a liar. Speaker 1 (18:19) It was Speaker 2 (18:20) very like that in there. Speaker 2 (18:23) I wouldn't want Speaker 1 (18:23) to Speaker 2 (18:23) go back, it's Speaker 1 (18:23) a Speaker 2 (18:23) waste of life. Where were you? Where did you get put in? I went Wandsworth at first, 1-0. Yeah, that's horrible. Mate, 23-hour day, bang Speaker 1 (18:30) up. Speaker 2 (18:30) That's horrible. I've gone and visited there. Mate. You walk in, you're like, fuck, I Speaker 1 (18:34) don't want to ever be in this game. Speaker 2 (18:36) Yeah, I was there for quite a while, 1-0. At first, it was like 23-hour day, bang up. So you're allowed out half hour in the morning, half hour the night. Yeah. But I remember, I'd never been to prison. Yeah. The first thing I thought of is, The showers am I gonna get right? Honestly, Speaker 1 (18:56) yeah, I'm sure I'm not gonna lie. Yeah. Speaker 2 (18:58) I got these fucking thoughts going in my head thinking and I shit myself having a shower I Speaker 1 (19:03) didn't shop about for Speaker 2 (19:04) that because I'm so scared Speaker 1 (19:05) Are they open cubicle is alone? They stuck a cubicle room Speaker 2 (19:10) and then you got your cubicles So Speaker 1 (19:11) as you're walking in there for the first time the back your mind going mate. I will you like probably I'll shit myself yeah I'll bet because Speaker 2 (19:19) I just thought because you only get like I was allowed out half hour in the morning you've got to walk around the yard and then you get half hour in the evening so you can try and make a phone call in that time and have a shower and you've got to collect your food yeah okay so it's like fuck me what do I do so I remember my mate said to me, go to court in your trainers because you're going to get banged up. And I thought, no, I'm going to look smart for the judge. So I wore a suit and shoes, got to prison, and they gave me my grey tracksuit and they wouldn't give me my trainers. So I'm walking around this fucking yard with my pointy shoes on and this grey tracksuit walking around in a circle. But you could see all the newbies on the wing because they've all got pointy shoes on. Speaker 2 (20:02) Yeah, I said to Baz, they were fucking checking me in and all that. I said, I'll get my trainers out, mate. He went, no, Speaker 1 (20:07) mate, it Speaker 2 (20:08) takes two weeks. I Speaker 1 (20:09) was like, please. No, please. Speaker 2 (20:11) He went, no, mate, no. So, yeah, there were some funny times in there. Like, I got banged up with a guy that he'd done, he got done for, I was like kidnapped or something else and he'd done like seven years but he taught me the ways of what to do. Yeah. Like, fucking what you can cook in a kettle. It was eye-opening. But for me, I learned a lot about me in there because I had the time to... Stop and think. I couldn't really read that well. I couldn't even spell my sister's name. And then I started reading when I was in prison. And then when I got moved to another prison, I went to High Point. They gave me my own cell. I thought, oh, this is fucking quality. And I just started reading a lot. And books took me away from where I was. And then I started not understanding me, but I would say I was still young, 30. I wasn't that mature. Speaker 2 (21:09) But really, it took me on a journey of reading. Now I still read at least a book a week. I read all the time. Even when you get a four, just under a four, you're thinking, I'm going to do two. Speaker 1 (21:19) Were you thinking, I've got to be here for 600 plus days? Mate, I didn't count the days. 700 days. Were you counting down? No, Speaker 2 (21:25) no. Or were you just like, right, I'll get me a down. And Speaker 1 (21:27) when it happens, it happens. Speaker 2 (21:28) I've always been, like you put me in a shit, I'll always try and find a positive from it. Always. Speaker 2 (21:35) Well, you can either always, even I teach this now, you're going to perceive what you want to perceive. Do you know what I mean? So it's confirmation bias, the way the brain works. So if you look for the negative, you're going to fucking see loads of Speaker 1 (21:47) it. Speaker 2 (21:47) But I thought, well, I ain't got to go Speaker 1 (21:50) work for fucking. That's Speaker 2 (21:52) what I thought. I thought I got, Speaker 1 (21:54) because Speaker 2 (21:54) I knew that I got under, basically I knew that because