Jon Moorby is serving a 29-year term in HMP Frankland in County Durham, nicknamed “Monster Mansion”, where the drug lord is reportedly checked on through his cell spy-hole every hour
A notorious drug baron who is set to be released from jail early already plans to divorce his wife – and spend the rest of his life with another woman.
Jon Moorby is currently in the middle of a 29-year term in jail for a string of offences, including conspiracy to supply class A drugs. However, his sentence has been slashed under the government’s early release scheme – and now Moorby, 58, will be out within four years.
Reports claim Moorby will divorce wife Kelly and instead spend his life with another woman called Lalida Baribon, 31, whom he met while living it up in Thailand when he evaded justice. The couple have a nine-year-old daughter.
It is understood Moorby met Ms Baribon when she was working as a dancer at a bar, in Patong, Phuket. However, since his incarceration, Moorby is said to have lost contact with Ms Baribon – and now he wants to win her heart again.
Speaking from prison, Moorby said: “Lalida is a country girl from the rice fields near Udon Thani (in Isan, northeast Thailand). I’m asking her to marry me.
“I am asking her to marry me right now. Lalida was always the one for me. I love Lalida and Lily with all my heart. I would be so proud if she would be my wife. Lalida, if you see this, please get in touch.”
Teesside Live reports Moorby is in HMP Frankland, which is a high-security jail in County Durham nicknamed “Monster Mansion” because it houses some of the most evil criminals the UK has seen, including Levi Bellfield and Ian Huntley.
Conditions are so rigid for Moorby that he is reportedly checked on through his cell spy-hole every hour at the Category A jail. The dad is accompanied by two prison guards whenever he leaves his cell.
Moorby was handed a 15-year prison term in 2014 for supplying cocaine and amphetamine. He had fled the country and he was sentenced in his absence. Moorby fled with his millions to Thailand, where he continued to run the Teesside arm of an international drugs ring – which was led by Merseyside gangster Lance Kennedy.
Chartered helicopters flew in packages of cocaine into the south of England. They were ferried up to Liverpool, where they were stored before Moorby arranged for the drugs to be delivered to Stockton-on-Tees, Teesside using an encrypted devices from Thailand.
A court heard the operation “flooded the streets of Teesside with cocaine”. John ‘Winky’ Watson and his gang then distributed the drugs at street level. Drugs gang underlings transferred £59,000 to Moorby.
Moorby’s exotic high life came to a dramatic end, as the Thai police chased him in a speedboat. He was caught in 2017, having fled to the island of Ko Mudsom. Police traced him after acting on a tip-off that his son Brandon was flying over to see him.
He began his 15-year sentence, once extradited back to the UK in 2019. In 2021, he was handed the additional 14-years, for conspiracy to supply class A drugs. His recent application to be re-categorised as a medium-risk, which would have seen Moorby moved to a more relaxed prison, has been turned down.
