Man who killed off-duty police officer jailed again for laundering millions

A man who killed an off-duty police officer a decade ago has been jailed again for his role in an organised crime group that laundered up to £13 million.

Timmy Donovan was jailed for six years in 2015 after being found guilty of the manslaughter of newly married Pc Neil Doyle, 36, in Liverpool.

Pc Doyle was killed by Donovan and co-defendant Andrew Taylor while on a Christmas work night out in the city in the early hours of December 19 2014. He and two colleagues were set on by the pair and a fatal punch ruptured his vertebral artery.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said Donovan was on licence for the offence when he joined forces with five other offenders and played a key role in the supply of class A drugs and laundering between £10 million and £13 million in the period between December 2019 and June 2020.

He was arrested as part of Operation Venetic, the UK response to the takedown of encrypted communications platform EncroChat.

Aaron O’Sullivan helped Donovan in the supplying of cocaine for the group and laundering the money. Donovan chased debts through O’Sullivan who arranged the collection of money by couriers Kenneth Kean, 59, and Paul Duncan, 56.

Donovan used his brother-in-law James Vaughan, 38, to collect, store and count money. Vaughan was previously on the NCA’s Most Wanted fugitives list and, on his arrest in 2020, was found with more than £2,000 at his home along with two Rolex watches, a Bulgari watch and packaging for a cash counting machine.

After his arrest, Vaughan fled to Spain but he was extradited back to the UK in March last year to face criminal charges.

Christopher Roper, 41, worked at the Wavertree Car Centre in Liverpool where he stored large amounts of the cash and arranged for transfers. In return, he often received a 4.5% fee.

On Monday, all six defendants were sentenced at Manchester Crown Court, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Donovan, 40, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply a controlled class A drug and one count of entering into or becoming concerned in a money-laundering arrangement. He was sentenced to 14 years and six months imprisonment.

O’Sullivan, 41, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply a controlled class A drug and entering into or becoming concerned in a money-laundering arrangement and was sentenced to seven years and six months.

Roper, Vaughan, Kean and Duncan admitted entering into or becoming concerned in a money-laundering operation.

Roper and Vaughan were sentenced to three years and 10 months and four years and three months respectively.

Kean and Duncan were handed two-year jail sentences suspended for two years.

Paula Lloyd, specialist prosecutor for the CPS, said: “Despite their efforts to evade detection, the overwhelming evidence against each defendant meant that they had little choice but to admit their involvement.

“Together, this group attempted to launder millions of pounds made from the sale of illegal drugs and enjoy the profits from this harmful trade which ruins lives and communities.

“The CPS worked closely and effectively with law enforcement partners to dismantle this organised crime group by building a strong case and bringing them to justice.

“We will be pursuing confiscation proceedings against the defendants to recover their ill-gotten gains.”

Gary Cathcart, head of financial investigation at the NCA, said: “Donovan is a dangerous individual who returned to criminality as soon as he left prison.

“NCA officers painstakingly combed through EncroChat messages to identify him and his co-conspirators, proving the extent of their involvement in both money laundering and drug trafficking.

“These crimes ruin lives and destroy communities, and the NCA, alongside our partners here in the UK and abroad, will pursue every angle to ensure that those who commit them face justice.”