Drugs traffickers given jail term

The court heard how Keith Harrison set up a drugs network

A convicted killer from Coventry who set up a major European drugs smuggling ring while on the run from a UK jail, has been jailed for eight years.

Keith Harrison, 50, was one of eight men jailed on Thursday and singled out by the judge at Birmingham Crown Court as the "chief" of the operation.

He added that drugs gangs were hard for the police to bring to justice.

Harrison fled to Holland after a home leave visit and started helping to bring drugs into the UK.

During the trial, the court was told how Harrison used contacts he had established at HMP North Sea Camp in Lincolnshire to set up the network while living in Breda and Amsterdam.

Operation Shearson

Harrison, and six other men either admitted or were found guilty of conspiracy to supply amphetamines and cannabis at earlier hearings.

Judge Richard Griffith-Jones said international trafficking of controlled drugs was a major worldwide problem "at the base" of a lot of crime committed in UK cities.

Harrison, who was serving a seven-and-a-half-year term for manslaughter and conspiracy to supply drugs, had failed to return to the prison after being given home leave in 2001.

Four Nottingham men were imprisoned including Anthony Handley, 33, from Hucknall, who was jailed for five-and-a-half-years. He was recruited by Harrison to act as his chief fixer in the UK.

Allan Walker, 62, from Cotgrave was jailed for 18 months.

Adrian Hayward, 36, of Underwood, was jailed for six years for his "subordinate" role and for possession of Ecstasy tablets found at his workshop.

Mark Ford, 32, from Bulwell, who was described by the judge as "cannon fodder" for more senior gangsters, was jailed for three-and-a-half years; and Dale Wright, 30, of Skegby, received a three-year jail term.

Sailing expert Michael Saward, 57, from Ramsgate, Kent, was jailed for six years for using his knowledge to cross the North Sea to Belgium in a 21ft speed boat.

He was also ordered to serve 400 days of a previous six-year sentence for an identical offence.

'£25m value'

Steven Bower, 35, from Grantham, Lincolnshire, was jailed for four years after the court heard that he had agreed as a friend of Harrison to help Saward across the North Sea.

A ninth defendant is due to be sentenced next week.

All the men were arrested as part of Operation Shearson, which was launched in 2002 by officers from the National Crime Squad (NCS) and their counterparts in Belgium and Holland.

The NCS has said some of the drugs impounded in the UK included 870kg of cannabis valued at nearly £2m.

Ecstasy worth £4.8m was also found at a Dutch farm, and the NCS said the total value of drugs across the UK, Belgium, Holland and Germany seized exceeded £25m.

The NCS said more than 20,000 phone calls were analysed as part of the joint operation with Dutch police, and that cocaine and ecstasy were also seized.

Some of the drugs were destined for London and cities across the Midlands.

The NCS said 25 other people have already been through the courts or are awaiting trial and that sentences totalling 85 years have been handed out so far.