A man has been sentenced to 11 years behind bars for drug offences – but it’s his mugshot that’s really got people talking.
Callum Buckley, 33, was found guilty of storing 72g of cannabis, six vacuum sealed packages of amphetamine and 18g of cocaine with a 78% purity, inside a container in Manchester.
Officers also found during their investigation that he was the man behind the EncroChat handle ‘Peptalk’, which he used to arrange his supply chain of Class A and Class B drugs.
But since GMP shared his mugshot on social media, people have been quick to point out a certain feature – his teeth.
Buckley has a pair of blinding pearly whites, which he’s proudly showing off in his mugshot.
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Several people have compared them to those tooth-shaped jelly sweets or Wallace (of Wallace and Gromit fame), with one person asking if he’d ‘got high off his own supply’.
Dozens of people have also pointed out his uncanny likeness to YouTuber MrBeast, with someone writing: “Honestly thought Mr Beast let himself go then.”
Buckley was involved in organised crime that involved the supply of Class As to associates as far as Luton.
He would refer to himself as ‘Cal’ while sending and receiving photos of blocks of cocaine, which he was buying each week for £42,000.
He also discussed the sale of heroin and cannabis valued at £11,000 and £5,000 respectively.
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At one stage, he told an associate of a shipment of drugs into Ireland worth an approximate £200,000.
Officers found designer clothing, footwear and a gold Rolex Yacht Master watch, with a total value of £53,000 during a raid at his property.
He was arrested on Thursday 15 September 2022 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine, heroin and cannabis, possession with intent to supply cocaine, amphetamine and cannabis and money laundering.
He has now been sentenced to 11 years in prison at Manchester City Crown Court.
Detective Constable Chris Anders, of GMP’s City of Manchester Challenger North team, said: “Buckley was using the EncroChat device to converse with other criminals under the guise of the handle ‘Peptalk’ and alike other criminals before him, he believed that his criminality was protected by the encrypted device.
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“We could see from the messages that Buckley had criminal contacts from as far as Luton, Bedfordshire in order to supply significant amounts of heroin and cocaine that was on a national scale, and that he had a direct influence upon the supply of these drugs into Ireland.
“He sent messages that he was travelling once a week to buy blocks of cocaine worth £42,000, at a time when the country was in a national lockdown due to Coronavirus and families couldn’t see their loved ones.
“The disruption of the EncroChat device enabled us to see first-hand the scale of Buckley’s criminality, which he was reaping the rewards of. Today’s sentencing is a clear reminder to criminals that they cannot hide behind these devices forever and that they will be prosecuted and sent to prison for a substantial amount of time.”
If you are concerned about criminal activity within your area, you can report this to us directly on 101 or by reporting information using our online report tool at www.gmp.police.uk.
You can also report information anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111.
Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Daisy Jackson -
28th September 2023 
