When Gregory Bell was jailed for 18 years for running a global drugs cartel, the most striking detail in the case against him was that he had paid his daughter’s public school fees with envelopes stuffed with cash.
Bell, 43, a larger-than-life, colourful character, led a wholesale narcotics operation that supplied cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and cannabis to organised crime groups.
He used the proceeds to fund an extravagant lifestyle, including a rented £2,200-a-month flat, two Spanish villas and 34 properties in and around Manchester and to ensure his daughter’s education was privately funded.
Parents at the school, which the Daily Mail has chosen not to name, assumed the father-of-one was a successful CEO or in finance.
Bell inserted himself into the upper echelons of leafy Cheshire life to such an extent that no one questioned him when he pulled up at the school gates in his luxury car and handed over the money once a term to the receptionist.
Now the Daily Mail has learned that this integration may have gone even deeper than previously realised: Bell’s partner Sophie Haynes was so close to England footballer Kyle Walker‘s wife that they even went into business together.
Annie Kilner, a model and influencer, and Ms Haynes are joint directors and owners of the company Demure Diamonds Ltd which sells high end precious stones.
The Instagram page for the company, which was launched in March, describes the pair as ‘two best friends crafting timeless fine jewellery. Mined & lab diamonds.’
British drugs baron Gregory Bell, 43, led a wholesale narcotics operation that supplied cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and cannabis to organised crime groups to fund his extravagant lifestyle
Bell’s former partner and ‘baby mama’ Sophie Haynes (pictured) has moved to Dubai since he was jailed for 18 years and has set up a diamond business with Kyle Walker’s wife Annie Kilner
Ms Kilner, a model and influencer, and Ms Haynes are joint directors and owners of a jewellery company called Demure Diamonds, which sells high end precious stones
The company, launched to great fanfare in March and featured on the Daily Mail website, has an Instagram page describing the women as ‘two best friends crafting timeless fine jewellery’
And this close association between Ms Haynes and the 33-year-old WAG is believed to have helped ensure Bell was welcomed at numerous events where he rubbed shoulders with many of the footballers and showbusiness figures the area is famous for.
‘Sophie was very glamorous and fashiony, and she and Annie became great friends,’ a former associate of Bell said. ‘And that gave Sophie an entree into the glitzy social world that WAGs move in – and in turn that saw Bell get invites to high end social events too.
‘A major league drug dealer would be the last person you’d expect to see on these very exclusive guest lists but that’s what happened.’
Ms Haynes is believed to have split up with Bell – who posed as a successful businessman – when she learned of his secret criminal double life. And she is now in a new relationship.
And Annie – along with the rest of her social group – was completely unaware of the truth about how Bell came by his obviously considerable wealth, having been taken in by his cover story.
Ms Kilner made no secret in the past of her friendship with Sophie, tagging her in an Instagram picture of them enjoying a night out with two other women as long ago as October 2018, and again in October 2019.
The pair’s Demure Diamonds brand is even followed on Instagram by Coleen Rooney, the wife of England legend Wayne Rooney, and Alex Curran, the wife of former England and Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.
Posts on social media reveal again and again the depth of Ms Kilner’s business links and friendship with Sophie, who is now believed to live in Dubai with a new partner as she tries to move on from being duped by Bell.
Annie’s Instagram also featured snaps of her and Sophie in March 2020 and May 2020, just weeks before Bell was arrested on May 31, 2020.
One of the pictures showed them with arms around each other after apparently finishing a meal in a restaurant with glasses of wine on the table.
Images of the pair together again at a Christmas party in December 2024 also appeared on Annie’s Instagram.
Her involvement in their Demure Diamonds brand was first revealed in February this year when the company’s Instagram account posted videos of her modelling a selection of giant rings as well as glitzy necklaces and bracelets.
Bell, who was jailed this week for 18 years at Manchester Crown Court for running a global drugs cartel, owned 34 properties in the UK and two Spanish villas at the time of his arrest
Officers found drugs hidden in suitcases in raids on Bell’s properties in a coordinated operation back in 2020
As well as drugs, police also found designer clothes at Bell’s home in upmarket Prestbury, Cheshire, worth £70,000. He was also known to have a significant gambling problem
Bell’s crime empire collapsed and his accomplices arrested when French and Dutch law enforcement worked out in 2020 how to analyse messages from his encrypted Encrophone
One of the clips featured Annie undergoing a studio makeover and saying: ‘We’re here today shooting our first ever campaign for Demure, so excited.’ While another video was captioned: ‘Launching this Valentine’s… save the date.’
Fans of Annie reacted with enthusiasm to the jewellery with one stating in a gushing message: ‘The ultimate diamond is Annie K.’
Captions on other pictures of jewellery pieces pointed to the closeness of Annie’s collaboration with Sophie, saying: ‘Here are some of the standout pieces from our collection.
‘Our website will be launching soon. In the meantime, all orders and enquiries can be made via DM. We’re happy to assist with sizing, styling, or any other questions you may have. Love Sophie and Annie x.’
At the time, Sophie’s former links with the crime boss father of her daughter were not known by the wider public.
Reports at the time about the launch of the jewellery brand, and showing Sophie and Annie walking around together, named Sophie as being Sophie Hutchings, rather than her real name Haynes.
It’s believed that this was down to Sophie attempting to distance herself from former partner Bell after he was charged with being a major drugs dealer.
Annie, who has four sons from her often turbulent relationship and marriage with former Manchester City captain Walker, 35, used her married name for the first time professionally in March this year when she posted more about her new jewellery collection on Instagram.
Taking to her Instagram Stories, she modelled a dazzling white and gold diamond necklace with a caption which read ‘Demure. Founded by Annie Walker & Sophie Haynes’ just over two weeks before their company was officially incorporated.
Her use of the name Walker was seen as a surprise nod to her previously unfaithful husband, who currently plays for Burnley and notoriously has two children with media personality and influencer Lauryn Goodman.
It was posted when she was said to be ‘far from happy’ after he was seen partying with two models in Italy during his spell with AC Milan, although he apparently insisted that he had simply been ‘asked to give the girls a lift’.
Annie was also a guest at Sophie’s baby shower on May 17 this year when Sophie was heavily pregnant with her son from her relationship with her new partner.
At the time, Annie was said to be re-kindling things with her footballer husband after it was revealed he had fathered a second child with Lauryn.
The drug kingpin used the proceeds fund an extravagant lifestyle, with 34 properties in and around Manchester – including a flat in this building he rented for £2,200 a month
Neighbours at the upmarket flat had no idea that the man living nearby who drove flashy cars and wore expensive designer clothes was head of a multi-million-pound drugs empire
Bell’s lavish lifestyle was exposed during the court case this week where details of his spending included paying for his daughter’s school fees with envelopes stuffed with cash
Bell, who posed as a successful businessman, has a daughter with Ms Haynes, who is believed to have ended their relationship when she learned of his secret criminal double life
Ms Haynes, a mother-of-two, has since relocated to Dubai with a new partner as she tries to move on from being duped by Bell. Her daughter is at a fee paying international school in Dubai
Annie proudly posted pictures of her and Sophie together at the event in the Merlin pub restaurant in Alderley Edge, with a caption, saying: ‘A special day.’ Once again, Sophie was wrongly identified in reports covering the event as Sophie Hutchings.
The pair also appeared united at the official launch party for their company in June this year, organised by lifestyle management agency The Limelight Collection in association with Julia Perry Events, at the OCASA bar and restaurant in Spinningfields, Manchester.
The Instagram page for Sophie’s child fashion model daughter, which is followed by Kai Rooney, 15, features her living a luxurious lifestyle in Dubai where she is a pupil at another exclusive private school.
Recent pictures she has posted show her holding a hawk and posing with a friend, a camel and dune buggies while on a desert safari, wearing a keffiyeh-style head dress.
Other posts show her inside the five start £1,000-a-night Jumeirah Beach Hotel and on the beach outside the Burj Al Arab hotel.
Yet more pictures in recent months show her travelling to up-market destinations such as Puerto Banus in Spain, Monte Carlo where she attended a wedding, and Cannes in the south of France.
But the days of luxury travel were soon to come to an end.
Her father’s crime empire began to unravel after police were able to view, save and analyse messages from his encrypted Encrophone smartphone.
The breakthrough came after French and Dutch law enforcement agencies worked out in early 2020 how to access material on the devices, which are used as secure methods of communication by high level criminals.
Investigations after Bell’s arrest show he also owned two villas in Spain
Bell inserted himself into the upper echelons of leafy Cheshire and handed over school fees in cash to a receptionist at the school gates
Bell, whose Encrochat handles were Castlesnail, Radiorhino and Wonkyfrog, was referred to in messages as ‘boss’ and ‘gaffer’.
Police found drugs belonging to his gang in a stash house and an array of designer clothing valued at more than £70,000 among lavish and expensive items at his home address.
Evidence showed the scale of his enterprise, involving dealing in multi kilos of cocaine, heroin, MDMA, amphetamine and cannabis on a daily basis.
He regularly sold cocaine at prices between £37,000 to £43,500 per kilo, with cannabis sold between £4,000 to £4,600 per kilo.
Bell was also found to be using two ‘safe houses’ in Moss Lane, Alderley Edge, and Coniston Drive, Bury, to store the drugs, which couriers would collect and then deliver in vehicles with the unlawful cargo hidden in secret compartments.
Manchester Crown Court heard how more than 70 names of drug suppliers and customers across the UK were also found in his phone contact list.
Prosecutors said he was also found to have ‘a serious and long-standing addiction to gambling’, losing hundreds of thousands of pounds in casinos and on bets at Ladbrokes and Betfred.
Bell, who was living in Prestbury in Cheshire, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to money laundering and conspiracy to supply cocaine, diamorphine, ecstasy, ketamine, amphetamine and cannabis.
Manchester Crown Court heard how Bell used to pay school fees for their daughter, who is now aged 14, by dropping off cash in envelopes to the receptionist at the school.
Detectives say he operated like a CEO. He used encrypted phones, spoof identities, and a network of couriers and safe houses to move vast quantities of drugs and launder millions of pounds.
Ms Kilner is close friends with Ms Haynes. ‘Sophie was very glamorous and fashiony and she and Annie became great friends,’ a former associate of Bell told the Daily Mail
Ms Kilner’s involvement in their Demure Diamonds brand was first revealed in February this year when the company’s Instagram account posted videos of her modelling the rings
Investigations after his arrest revealed he owned 34 properties, mostly in east Manchester, with two villas in Spain and lived in a prestigious rented apartment costing £2,200 a month in Prestbury, Cheshire.
He was jailed on Tuesday for 18 years and nine months.
Det Insp Richard Castley of Greater Manchester Police said: ‘Gregory Bell was not just a drug dealer, he was the head of a criminal enterprise that reached into every corner of the UK.
‘This was a man who profited from the misery that drug dealing and using has on our communities, not just in Manchester but the entire country.’
Bell’s close associate, Ian Ogden, 46, of Haslingden, Lancashire, was jailed for 16 years and eight months, after he admitted the same offences as his boss.
A third defendant, Paul Brown, 51, of Failsworth in Oldham, Greater Manchester, who was described as a ‘major customer’ of Bell, was jailed for ten years after he admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine, ketamine, amphetamine and cannabis. Five other members of the gang received jail sentences in July.
Attempts have been made to contact Ms Kilner and Ms Haynes.
