Gangster loses £1m drugs case appeal

A GANGSTER thought to be one of Britain's richest criminals yesterday lost his appeal against a conviction for plotting to smuggle £1m worth of cannabis, court officials said.
By The Newsroom
Published 5th May 2010, 23:58 BST
Updated 5th May 2010, 23:58 BST

Liverpool-born Curtis Warren, 46, started a 13-year jail term in December after he and five others were found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to import the drugs from mainland Europe to Jersey in the Channel Islands.

Warren, known by his nickname "Cocky", was once Interpol's most wanted man.

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He is the only drug dealer to have appeared in the Sunday Times Rich List when, in 1997, he was listed as a "property developer" worth 40m.

Warren was convicted of the Jersey plot alongside John Welsh, 43, originally from Liverpool, who was jailed for 12 years and James O'Brien, 45, from Glasgow, who got 10 years.

Jason Woodward, 22, from Kent, and Jersey men Paul Hunt, 27, and Oliver Lucas, 23, were each handed five-year terms.

A spokeswoman for the Judicial Greffe, Jersey's court service, said yesterday defence teams appealed against the six convictions on five separate grounds but all were refused by a panel of judges led by Dame Heather Steel.

In addition, appeals against the length of their sentences made by Warren, Welsh, O'Brien and Woodward were also denied.

Related topics:BritainJerseyLiverpoolEurope