Portsmouth brother of SAS: Who Dares Wins star Ant Middleton is jailed for role in £700k cocaine bust
THE older brother of SAS: Who Dares Wins star Ant Middleton has been jailed for his part in a £700,000 cocaine deal.
Michael Middleton was caught red-handed while attempting to hand over 7kg of cocaine during a deal in Heston, south-west London, earlier this year.
Middleton, of Rochford Road, Wymering, had been under investigation by the National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police’s Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) when he attempted the deal.
The 41-year-old, who is one of the TV hardman Ant’s three brothers, was arrested on March 12 alongside 31-year-old Ervis Hoxha, of Beechcroft Road, Tooting.
Earlier that evening Middleton had driven back to the UK via the Eurotunnel service from Calais to Folkstone.
He then drove to Heston and parked in Westbrook Road, before getting out the car with a rucksack filled with cocaine.
OCP officers watched as Middleton got into the passenger seat of Hoxha’s car then moved in to arrest the two men.
As well as the drugs, officers seized almost £7,000 in cash from Hoxha’s car.
When searching his home in Tooting, they found a further £1,500 in cash and additional evidence of his drug dealing activities, including plastic wraps, a drug press, scales and a heat sealing machine.
Forensic examination of Hoxha and Middleton’s phones found that both were encrypted devices, which are commonly used to undertake criminal activity.
Both men admitted to supplying class A drugs. Another man, who was in Middleton’s car on the night of the arrests, was fined after pleading guilty to possession of a class A drug.
Yesterday at Isleworth Crown Court Middleton was sentenced to three years and five months behind bars. Hoxha was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison
Detective Chief Inspector Tony O’Sullivan, from the OCP, said: ‘Drugs, cash and violence are a vicious cycle that all go hand-in-hand. The OCP is acting swiftly to arrest criminals and break the link between all the three factors.
‘The NCA and Met will continue to work together to stop organised criminals profiting on the supply of drugs, which in turn will help reduce violent crime across London and the UK.’
Former special forces soldier Ant grew up in Portsmouth as a boy, studying at Portsmouth Grammar School before moving to France.
