A pub landlord and property developer who ran a £3.5m cocaine smuggling operation has been locked up for 20 years.
David Watson, 54, who owns The Plough on Rainsough Brow, Prestwich, used his light aircraft to have the drugs flown in from France.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that Watson was ‘in control of the operation’ – although the actual smuggling took place while he was in the US.
Sentencing him for conspiring to smuggle class A drugs, following a seven-week trial, Judge William George said: "You were always in the background controlling matters at a distance."
The 14kg of cocaine were smuggled into Anglesey from Le Touquet in northern France in July 2009 in a single-seater four-engine plane owned by Watson.
The court heard that Watson had a ‘net worth’ of £980,000 thanks to a significant portfolio of property he had built up over the past 30 years.
Kevin Slack, prosecuting, said: "To use the analogy of a business... David Watson was the managing director." He said Watson’s motive was ‘greed’.
Officers from North Wales Police met the aircraft when it touched down at Mona airfield, and found the drugs during a search of the plane.
Three other men pleaded guilty to being part of Watson’s gang – their connections came to light after UK Border Agency investigators seized a mobile phone and found coded text messages appearing to relate to a drugs deal.
The drugs were picked up in France by former soldier Matthew Lockwood, 29, of Leach Mews, Prestwich, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to smuggle class A drugs.
Sentencing hearing for Lockwood, a telecoms engineer, was adjourned until June 13.
Michael Cahillane, 45, of Stanley Road, Stockport, pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle class A drugs and was sentenced to 16 years.
The court heard he was an ‘organiser’ and helped to set up meetings between Watson’s organised crime group and an unidentified drug dealer in Spain. He was also sentenced to three months for possession of a stun gun.
Richard McArthur, 45, from Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, delivered the drugs to Lockwood when the plane touched down in France.
The court accepted his claim that he did not know the package contained cocaine, and thought he was involved in smuggling cannabis.
McArthur was sentenced to a total of six years in jail after he also pleaded guilty to a separate charge of trying to smuggle cannabis in a car through the Channel Tunnel in May 2010.
Judge George said the courts were ‘reminded every day’ of the consequences of the ‘evil trade’ of drug dealing.
He said: "Your offences hit at the fabric of our society."
Jim Jarvie, of the UK Border Agency’s Crime Directorate, said it had been a ‘significant smuggling operation’.
He said: "They clearly thought that arriving at a small airfield would ensure they were able to bypass law enforcement controls. This was not the case.
"The cocaine was destined for the north west of England. Together with the police, the UK Border Agency has made sure that these drugs have not reached the streets."
The Crown Prosecution Service said it is now looking to confiscate the assets of those involved.
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