Man jailed for barrel killing

A member of an international drugs syndicate has been jailed for six years for killing a man whose body was hidden in a plastic barrel and dumped in a hedgerow.

The body of Floyd Dodson was found by council workmen beside a country lane in Pendeford, near Wolverhampton, in 1999.

A jury at Stafford Crown Court took more than 25 hours to convict Nigel "Chrome" Brade, 41, of the manslaughter of Mr Dodson at Stafford Crown Court.

Brade's 25-year-old co-defendant, Ryan Matthews, was cleared on 10 July of the manslaughter of Mr Dodson.

What precisely it was that the syndicate wanted Dodson to do will never be known. You with others put pressure on Dodson and did so unlawfully. Mr Justice Roderick Evans

Mr Justice Roderick Evans said on Monday he was satisfied that Mr Dodson, who had heart problems, died after being attacked and restrained by Brade and others during a dispute at a flat in Catford, south east London, in the early hours of 19 August 1999.

Describing the killer as an active and central member of a international drugs gang, the judge said: "That night the syndicate had a problem - there was a shortage of drugs.

"Dodson could not supply as much as he wanted to or as much as he had expected to be able to supply.

"What precisely it was that the syndicate wanted Dodson to do will never be known.

Drug mules

"You with others put pressure on Dodson and did so unlawfully."

The six-week trial was told that Brade, of Cruickshank Street, Bloomsbury, central London, was arrested after a police officer went undercover to gather evidence from inside the drugs syndicate.

Nigel Baker QC, prosecuting, told jurors that Mr Dodson, a 39-year-old who was born in South America, died after being tied up, possibly due to a heart complaint caused by cocaine abuse.

Mr Dodson, who lived in Amsterdam, had been involved with drug mules ferrying cocaine from South America to the UK.

Mr Matthews, of Negus Close, Kingston, Jamaica, had denied a single count of unlawful killing.