GANG IS QUIDS IN (From Thisisdorset)

GANG IS QUIDS IN

7:09am Monday 6th October 2008

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THREE members of a Dorset-based tobacco smuggling gang who evaded more than £236,000 in excise duty have been ordered to pay back just £1.

The gang were found to have laundered more than £172,000 after police found 1.5 tonnes of tobacco and 377,000 cigarettes in storage units in Poole.

In Wilson’s case, her barrister Paul Hester handed over 10 pence, on her behalf, which was accepted by the prosecution.

Despite jointly benefiting to the tune of £53,000, Melanie Wilson, 22, Grant Pearce, 42, and Raymond Hayes, 50, were told to pay the nominal sum or face being jailed.

In Wilson's case, her barrister Paul Hester handed over 10 pence, on her behalf, which was accepted by the prosecution.

Confiscation proceedings against gang leader Peter Robinson, 43, from Good Road, Poole, who is currently serving a four-year prison sentence, were adjourned until January.

Wilson, from Brodie Close, South Shields; Pearce, from Fieldway, Jarrow; and Hayes, 50, from Wilton Gardens, South Bolden Colliery, had to pay only the nominal sum because they had no assets.

The cases of David Munroe, 47, from Bunyan Avenue, South Shields, Joseph Munroe, 20, from Good Road, Poole, Carol Slesser, 47, from Bunyan Avenue, South Shields and Beatrice Pearce, 68, from Bamburgh Avenue, South Shields, were adjourned until a date to be fixed.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard how Philip Fendley, 59, from Wilson Road, Dorchester, had benefited by £236,946.

He was ordered to pay £1,000 after the court heard that his only asset was a Triumph Stag classic car.

Jacqueline Ridley, 42, from Good Road, Poole, who benefited by £24,000, was ordered to pay £10,000. An £8,863 confiscation order was made against John Moore, 42, from Fieldway, Jarrow, who benefited by £128,734.

Kevin Jackson, 42, from Ede Avenue, South Shields, benefited to the tune of £11,235 and was ordered to pay £2,765 or face jail.

Earlier the court heard how police had found 1.5 tonnes of tobacco in two vans and 377,000 cigarettes in storage units in Poole.

They also discovered how more than £167,000 had been moved around among the gang members in a web of accounts in Dorset, the North East and Guernsey.

Robinson was arrested in September 2006 along with Fendley. During searches of Robinson's house bundles of cash wrapped in cling film were seized, including £87,290 from under his bed.

Jail sentences totalling five years and two months were imposed following a trial at Bournemouth Crown Court.

The remaining seven gang members who pleaded guilty to criminal activity received four-month prison sentences or four or five-month suspended sentences.

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