TWO Merseyside drug smug-glers won huge reductions in their jail sentences by duping authorities into believing they had given vital informa-tion about the whereabouts of guns and ammunition, a court heard yesterday.
TWO Merseyside drug smugglers won huge reductions in their jail sentences by duping authorities into believing they had given vital informa-tion about the whereabouts of guns and ammunition, a court heard yesterday.
John Haase and his nephew Paul Bennett were the British end of an inter-national drug smuggling operation and gave details which led to a number of seizures, London’s Southwark Crown Court heard.
Both were facing long terms of imprisonment for drug smuggling and Gibson Grenfell, QC, prosecuting, said that, when the case went to court, in August, 1995, they were sentenced to 18 years.
But the trial judge wrote to then Home Secretary, Michael Howard, inviting the exercise of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy, and suggesting a sen-tence of just five years. This was exercised and both men were released less than a year later, in July, 1996.
But the prosecution claim the guns were procured and laid down under the direction of Haase and Bennett to allow them to falsely claim they were providing genuine intel-ligence about other criminals.
Mr Grenfell said: “Their purpose was to obtain un-deserved credit for such intelligence when they came to be sentenced.”
Haase, 59, of no fixed address, Bennett, 44, whose address is unknown, Haase’s wife Deborah, 37, of Teynham Avenue, Knowsley, and Sharon Knowles, 36, of Wadeson Road, Walton, all deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Deborah Haase also denies possession of firearms and ammunition.
The men were arrested in July, 1993, in Liverpool, after an investigation by Customs and Excise into an interna-tional drug trafficking ring.
Haase and Bennett, of Mer-seyside, were involved in a ring involving Class A drugs and a Turkish crime syndicate.
“Following their arrest, it seems they realised that the evidence against them was strong and that they would have to plead guilty,” he said.
“They decided to make an arrangement with HM Cus-toms whereby they would provide information about the criminal activities of others in the expectation of reduced sentences.”
Mr Grenfell said the jury would hear from a fellow prisoner of Bennett, called Parkinson, who says Bennett admitted to him that he and Haase set up the scheme – “and it had cost them a lot in both money and drugs to do it”.
The case continues.
