Men jailed over £100m cocaine smuggling plot

Four men who plotted to smuggle cocaine with a street value of £100m on a fishing boat off the Cornish coast have been jailed.

Michael Kelly, 45, and Jake Marchant, 27, pleaded guilty before trial.

Jon Williams, 46, of Windmill Terrace in St Thomas, Swansea, and Patrick Godfrey, 31, of Danygraig Road in Port Tennant, Swansea, were convicted after a trial in March.

Williams was sentenced to 26 years, Godfrey to 25 years, Marchant to 18 years and Kelly 21 years.

A National Crime Agency investigation revealed the group was found with the Class A drug on board their boat, the Lily Lola, last year.

It was intercepted by the Border Force cutter HMC Valiant shortly after 14:00 BST on 13 September.

Prosecutor Frederick Hookway said Williams was at the helm of the vessel with Marchant next to him, Kelly was in the accommodation area and Godrey was asleep in a chair on the deck.

Williams, who was the skipper of the boat, told the court he thought they were on a trip to fish big tuna but later said: "I thought something dodgy was going on."

His lawyer David Leathly said his client was coerced into taking part because he was so "intellectually challenged" he made "Mr Blobby look like James Bond because he is that stupid".

The court heard Godfrey's phone showed he had sent a message to someone that said: "Delete everything you see and [do] not show anybody."

A tracker was found in the drugs haul which investigators established was linked to a user in South America.

Williams, Godfrey and Marchant made no comment in interview and Kelly claimed he was on a fishing trip.

Kelly and Marchant subsequently pleaded guilty at Truro Crown Court on 15 October.

The men were all sentenced at the same court earlier.

Judge James Adkin said the defendants were part of a gang involved in "a carefully planned and significant attempt" to smuggle cocaine into the UK from South America.

He said the figures involved were "extreme" and the drugs would have caused "immeasurable harm on the streets of this country".

National Crime Agency branch commander Derek Evans said: "We prevented a huge haul of cocaine from hitting the streets of the UK and wider Europe and ensured organised criminals are deprived of the significant profits they would have gained had these drugs made it into the country."

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