Back in November 2013, Private Eye featured an article, ‘A fishy tale’, looking into the £53m cocaine smuggling case that saw well-known Yarmouth character and fisherman Jamie Green jailed, along with four others, for a total of 104 years.
The Eye said they thought the case “bares all the hallmarks of a miscarriage of justice”, going onto detail them (reproduced here).
On Saturday, The Daily Mail also ran a long article, which they labelled ‘a forensic analysis’, headlined: ‘Murky riddle of the £53m Isle of Wight cocaine job: New evidence throws into question the guilty verdicts of the five fishermen jailed for 104 years’.
Questions raised by the Mail
It raises question over:
- If the 11 bags each containing 50lb of cocaine could have been dropped from the container ship, Oriane, as was stated at the trial
- How those 11 bags, of 50lb each, and 600ft of rope got on board Jamie Green’s fishing boat, Galwad-y-mor, in the open sea during a gale in just two minutes and 32 seconds (as tracking data showed). ‘Nautical equipment specialist Mike Morgan’ told The Mail, “Even if you hooked the buoy at the end of the string and got it through the hauler immediately, for 11 bags on a 600ft line, you’re talking at least ten to 15 minutes.”
- Why the two Hampshire policemen, DC Paul Jeans and DC Andrew Dunne, who were on the Downs watching the boats, changed the logs of their observations from saying they’d seen ‘six or seven items’ being thrown overboard, to then stating it was 12 bags, after they had received a call the next day from a SOCA (Serious Organised Crime Agency) officer.
- Claims that on jury member had been approached by Soca officers at his health club. If true, a clear breach of the law. Lady Justice Hallett ruled the juror was ‘not capable of belief’, and upheld the convictions.
- Questions marks over the supply of the drop ship.
- What happened to ‘at least’ two other boats in the wake of Oriane, when the pick up by Galwad was supposed to have happened. Also what was happening to the observation boat, Vigilant, in the four hour after the spotting. The official record is that the ships logs were ‘spoilt’.
Thanks to Dan for the heads-up: Source
Image: © Used with permission of Ship Spotter Steve
