The horror of Thomas Campbell’s last moments is unimaginable. He was tied up, stabbed, beaten and then burned with hot water while being tortured for two hours.
No one deserves to die in such a brutal way, regardless of their past. Reece Steven, one of the three gunmen who attacked Campbell at his Tameside home, will serve at least 37 years for the gruesome murder. At the time of his death, the 38-year-old father had recently settled in a posh new development in Mossley, on a street where families lived.
He had begun a new relationship, one that would bring him into contact with John Belfield, an alleged drug dealer who was said to be out for revenge after his ex-partner hooked up with Campbell. His ex-wife of 10 years, Coleen Campbell, later conspired with Belfield, who is wanted on suspicion of murder, as the couple sought revenge against their former partners. Earlier this week, she was jailed for 13 years for manslaughter.
READ MORE: How Thomas Campbell was betrayed by a woman who claimed to love him
Belfield is alleged to have been the second attacker. The third is unknown to the police.
As he settled into his new surroundings, Mr. Campbell, a convicted drug dealer, continued to be of interest to the police. “At the time of his death, there were pending criminal investigations into Thomas Campbell, including on suspicion of assault and drug offences,” the jury said at his murder trial.
His criminal past dates back more than two decades. Then, at just 19 years old, in 2002, Campbell was sentenced to nine years in prison after taking part in a terrifying robbery conspiracy, which involved the use of weapons, including a samurai sword.
It was after he was released from his sentence in 2008 that he met Coleen Campbell. The couple married in 2011 and had two children, in 2010 and 2015.
Fatherhood did not deter him from involvement in criminal activity. He has a conviction for possession with intent to supply cannabis from 2010. Police intelligence records allege Campbell was involved in trafficking cannabis and cocaine for more than a decade, between 2010 and 2021.
Intelligence also claims he played an ‘integral’ role in an organized crime gang involved in cocaine trafficking from 2013 to 2021. And, in 2019, his wife joined him in the dock.
The couple was jointly charged with money laundering after enjoying a high society lifestyle, expensive cars and home improvements financed with dirty money. The couple splurged £10,000 on a holiday, did a two-storey extension to add a bar and larger kitchen to their east Manchester home and spent a fortune on designer clothes and jewellery.
A judge ruled that they had profited from the crime to the tune of £100,000 over a period of five years. A Proceeds of Crime investigation, seeking to recover the couple’s ill-gotten gains, has yet to be finalized in court.
With Thomas dead, the £100,000 bill is left to his widow. The case will be heard again in the coming months.
Further intelligence suggested that Campbell had access to phones on the EncroChat communications network. Until it was hacked by European law enforcement, the system was thought to be impenetrable and provided criminals with a secure line of communication to carry out their clandestine activities.
He had moved to Marbella and then Dubai in previous years, fearing the EncroChat hack would land him in court, his ex-wife said. Police also said Campbell was “tactically aware” of the police surveillance being conducted on him. During the investigation that led to the money laundering charges, he was able to “compromise a mobile surveillance team” that had followed him, the murder trial was heard to have.
In 2018, he turned up at a police station with a tracking device he had found attached to his vehicle and asked officers if it belonged to them. In addition to high-tech methods, Campbell was thought to employ old-school tactics to avoid detection.
The police believed that he buried the drugs underground to keep them away from his home. In their defense cases, rejected by the jury, two men later convicted of participating in his murder claimed they had been trying to find this “buried treasure,” with no intention of harming Campbell.
When three men ambushed him on July 2 of last year, Thomas Campbell was beginning a new chapter in his life. A new relationship and a new home. It is not clear if he would have continued in his criminal ways. But he was not allowed that opportunity. His life was cut short in the most brutal and gruesome manner, with three of those who played a role in the shocking murder in front of justice.
After a trial, Coleen Campbell, 38, of Bamford Street, Clayton, was found guilty of manslaughter. Cleworth, 38, of Charles Street, Heywood, was also found guilty of manslaughter, while Steven, 29, of Poplar Street, Middleton, was found guilty of murder.
Coleen Campbell was sentenced to 13 years in prison. Stephen Cleworth received a life sentence, to serve a minimum of 12 years. Reece Steven was sentenced to life in prison, to serve a minimum of 37 years.
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