Torin and Jacques Lakeman’s father has spoken to iomtoday.co.im after the sentencing of internet drug dealer Kurt Lai Lan.

The brothers, from Port St Mary, were found dead from a drug overdose in a room above a Bolton pub in December 2014.

They had bought ecstasy from a dark web vendor page.

This week the man behind the web page, Lai Lan, aged 26, was jailed for 16 years after being found guilty of importing and supplying a class A drug following an 11-day trial at Portsmouth Crown Court.

Ray Lakeman told iomtoday.co.im: ’We were surprised they found the drug dealer. They never get to trace people who have sold drugs on the dark web.’

He said that a year ago he and his wife had a call from the police when Lai Lan was charged.

But he found out it was going to court when a friend of Torin rang to say he was going to be a witness.

The trial began on December 4, three days after the third anniversary of the brothers’ deaths.

Mr Lakeman said: ’I was tempted to go over for the trial, but the trial was so long we decided against it. At least we know who he is and have a key to understanding him. We have a clearer idea of his background and the murky world of the dark web.’

Lia Lan was importing drugs in jigsaw puzzles. The police found 8,000 ecstasy tablets.

’It’s quite easy to get drugs off these sites,’ said Mr Lakeman.

’If you want anything it’s like going to Amazon, it’s frightening. There was over £350,000 in just one bank account. They use Bitcoin and a crypto currency. It’s hard to track the drug dealer.

’It’s nice to think it’s taken him out of the game and it will make a difference. But the truth is there are scores out there importing drugs on the dark web.

’The web pages are all encoded and there are no bank accounts.’

He said the 16-year sentence was longer than he had expected.

Mr Lakeman has campaigned for drug law reform since the deaths of Torin and Jacques (pictured below).

He said the court case had not changed anything.

’It will not stop anybody else. It does not alter my stance.

’If drugs were legally registered my boys might still be alive. It makes no difference to our lives and our boys are gone.

’There are people who will lose their loved ones over Christmas [from drugs]. There is plenty out there, you can get them from someone on the streets.

’In lots of ways we are lucky, we know who it is. There are lots of other people who lost their loved ones and who will never know.

’I have tried desperately hard to get people to understand the scale ot this.

’It’s relatively easy money - £350,000 - that’s one hell of a lot of deals. There are a hell of a lot of recreational users out there.

’It’s absolutely rampant and it will continue. We’ve got to accept what’s going on. If we really are into harm reduction and loss of life we need to take action. It (legalising drugs) will save lives. If there were regulated places where they give advice and warnings, it would save lives straightaway.

’Demand for drugs could go down if drugs are seen as normal and taking them is not rebellious.

’If the policies are working I cannot see it, we are being lied to when they say the number of users is dropping.’

He added: ’The sentencing has not affected me.

’It is not the end of the fight. We should not kid ourselves, police are doing the best but there is no way to stop it.

’It’s not just kids from broken homes or difficult backgrounds.

’It could be anybody, people need to understand it’s ubiquitous.

’If my boys were able to get on to the dark web, anybody can do it.’