David Stephen and Shaun Brown, both 30, ran DX Home Improvements – which featured on Motherwell FC’s strip – and boasted about Lamborghinis and Rolex watches on social media
13:10, 06 May 2026Updated 13:16, 06 May 2026
David Stephen in his Lamborghini (Image: COPFS)
Two Hamilton businessmen who boasted their luxury lifestyles, gained from a multi-million-pound drugs trafficking operation, have been jailed for more than 13 years.
Directors of DX Home Improvements, which featured on Motherwell FC’s strip, David Stephen and Shaun Brown, exchanged thousands of messages with criminal associates on encrypted messaging systems to purchase and sell large amounts of cocaine.
One image on social media showed Stephen behind the wheel of a Lamborghini, while another showed earing a Rolex watch given to him by Brown.
However, evidence gathered by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) found the 30-year-olds lifestyles were funded from the purchase, collection, delivery, adulteration, storage and sale of the class A drug which had a combined street value of more than £11million.
DX Home Improvements sponsored Motherwell FC before directors’ criminal activities emerged(Image: Handout)
The scale of their operation was laid bare in almost 12,000 messages on the encrypted communication Encrochat platform favoured by criminals.
They also exchanged images of blocks of cocaine and bundles of criminal cash, as well as a money counting machine Stephen purchased online.
Both were caged for six years and eight months each at the High Court in Glasgow after admitting a charge of directing others to commit a serious offence between March and June 2020 and, separately, between August and December 2025.
They were also each made subject of a Serious Crime Prevention Order which will come into effect for three years following their release from prison.
During the first period of offending in 2020, they communicated with 26 unknown other people to direct the trafficking purchase, adulteration and storage of 4.5kg of cocaine.
Shaun Brown’s Rolex(Image: COPFS)
In the second period of offending in 2025, police found nine conversations in group chats between both accused and various associates telling them to commit drug-related offences.
Both men were detained by police after Stephen had travelled from Dubai to Scotland on a first-class Emirates flight on December 23, 2025.
They were apprehended in Stephen’s Lamborghini Urus at a petrol station in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire.
Stephen’s black iPhone was later forensically examined and found to contain several installed encrypted messaging apps.
A total of 125kg of cocaine was purchased with an estimated street value of £11,250,000(Image: COPFS)
Messages on the phone showed that, at the direction of both accused, a total of 125kg of cocaine was purchased with an estimated street value of £11,250,000.
One image on Instagram also showed Stephen wearing a Rolex watch on his wrist with Brown tagged in alongside the message: “My brother. Thank you.”
Another on the same app featured Stephen in a Lamborghini with the comment: “Matching Lambos with my brother. Dreams come true. Grateful for this life.”
The pair’s criminal cash(Image: COPFS)
Prosecutor Sineidin Corrins, of COPFS, said: “David Stephen and Shaun Brown boasted online of wealth that had been accumulated through criminal activity.
“But they have now been brought fully to account for their crimes.
“This was a coordinated effort to facilitate the movement of significant quantities of illegal and harmful drugs through Scotland.
“These two men are now serving prison sentences thanks to an extensive police operation, working with COPFS, to investigate a network of drug supply.
“We are targeting all people who threaten communities across Scotland, not only drug couriers but also those who direct their movements.
“With each case of this kind we can help reduce the harm these drugs inflict on our communities.”
Detective Inspector Gary Semple said: “This case is a further outcome of the interrogation of EncroChat data by officers dedicated to identifying and disrupting organised crime groups operating in Scotland.
“Analysis of this data remains a priority and we will continue to use all available tools and intelligence to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.
“We are continuing to interrogate data as part of Operation Venetic and working with partners across Scotland, the UK and internationally to identify those involved in serious organised crime.
“Those involved in this type of criminality should be aware that they cannot hide behind encrypted platforms to evade detection and our ability to detect and investigate this type of offending will only advance further.
“Serious and organised crime causes significant harm to our communities and this work is a priority as part of the wider approach to tackling it through the Serious and Organised Crime Taskforce.”
Both men will now be subject to confiscation action under Proceeds of Crime legislation to recover monies illegally obtained.