Drug smuggler given bill for £76k
A courier in a £1 million drug smuggling gang has been ordered to repay more than £76,000 of his ill-gotten gains in the next six months – or face a further two years behind bars.
A courier in a £1 million drug smuggling gang has been ordered to repay more than £76,000 of his ill-gotten gains in the next six months – or face a further two years behind bars.
Alastair MacKenzie-Crow, aged 53, of Brook Lane, Cradley Heath, is a year into a six-year sentence for his part in a sophisticated cannabis ring.
He appeared before Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday for a Proceeds of Crime hearing.
However his accomplice and girlfriend Sarah Chater, 42, of Whitehall Walk, St Neots, Cambridgeshire, was ordered to pay just £114.25 of the £50,000 she made from the illegal scheme. The ringleader, ice cream seller Michael Hartshorne, 44, of Cemetery Road, Lye, was due to hear how much he must repay today. In April last year the trio were sentenced to a total of more than 21 years in prison after they were convicted of bringing tons of cannabis into the West Midlands.
Huge amounts of the drug were shipped in from Holland before being taken to rented warehouses in the region, where they were then collected by dealers from around the country.
Yesterday the court heard that MacKenzie-Crow had become involved as a courier, driving the drugs by lorry to warehouses, including one in Talbots Lane, Brierley Hill, in May 2005. Mr Peter Grieves-Smith, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said MacKenzie-Crow had continued to transport the drugs until March 2006, receiving between 2,000 and 2,500 euros a week over 46 weeks for his role.
He was also paid separate payments of 1,400 euros and £1,000 for further operations, the court heard.
Mr Richard Atkins, for MacKenzie-Crow, disputed the figures that it was claimed his client had been paid and MacKenzie-Crow gave evidence stating he had not known he was transporting the drugs.
However Judge Nicholas Webb dismissed MacKenzie-Crow's evidence.
He said: "I do find he has benefited and I also find that he has lied to me. Clearly he knew he was driving the cannabis – that was the jury's verdict and yet he comes back here and tells me he did not know."
Judge Webb found MacKenzie-Crow had profited from his criminal activity to the tune of £88,000.
After reviewing bank statements he ordered MacKenzie-Crow to pay £76,792.48 within six months to avoid a further two years behind bars.
Chater was found to have made £50,000 between November 2005 and March 2006. She was told to pay £114.25 in the next 14 days.
Hartshorne's hearing was due to start this morning.
