NCAAn oil rig worker from Peterhead has been jailed for 14 years for his part in a £40m cocaine smuggling scheme.
David Paterson was one of 12 criminals sentenced on Friday at Portsmouth Crown Court for attempting to bring 16 bales of Class A drugs ashore from the sea.
An investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) uncovered the scheme, which involved members of organised crime and 500kg of cocaine.
On August 19, 2024, NCA agents were lying in wait on Medmerry Beach in West Sussex as the criminals hauled bales from the sea, which were dropped off by an accomplice crew on a passing container ship a few days earlier, according to the NCA.
The drugs were put inside waterproof packaging and fitted with a GPS tracker, before being tossed into the water around 40 nautical miles south of the Needles, to the west of the Isle of Wight.
Paterson, 49, of Peterhead, was tasked with recovering the drugs days earlier but was unsuccessful.
In the early hours of August 17, he sailed out from Haslar Marina in Portsmouth into international waters.
NCAPaterson was supposed to retrieve the drugs and return them to shore, where the others would sell them to other crime groups around the country.
But the container ship the drugs were dropped from sailed past Paterson who was taking directions via WhatsApp from accomplice Lewis Watts, 37, who was ashore.
“Big ship has passed you, flash lights,” he instructed Paterson.
Increasingly desperate, Watts added: “Big ship has passed you, chase it and flash lights.”
The container ship sailed on leaving Paterson to locate the drugs from the trackers – but the trackers had failed and were not sending a signal.
Paterson returned to shore empty-handed several hours later.
He was convicted by the jury of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine and jailed for 14 years.
He was convicted alongside the group’s bosses, Daniel Jamieson, 41, and Sam Brown, 33, who were sentenced to 22 years and 16 years and six months.
Jamieson, of Essex, was pretending to be a legitimate businessman to acquire a boat suitable for collecting the drugs.
Gang sentenced to more than 100 years in prison
Brown, a cocaine user, was responsible for recruiting others and brought his friend, Harry Kennedy, 38, into the scheme, having been neighbours living in Liverpool. Kennedy was jailed for nine years.
Carl Powner, 62, of Stoke-on-Trent, was handed 13 years for his role in recruiting drivers and purchasing equipment, as well as recovering the drugs following a failed attempt by Paterson.
He fled the country, but was apprehended in Romania.
His accomplice in recovering the drugs was Adil Nolan, 40, from Liverpool who was sentenced to 11 years and three months.
NCALewis Watts, of Essex, was Jamieson’s right-hand man and carried out research on how to recover drugs from the sea. He was jailed for 14 years.
Five other offenders were part of the landing party on August 19.
Charlotte Blenman, 34, of Bournemouth, was sentenced to 20 months suspended for two years.
Roy Harmer, 46, of Bournemouth; Neil Pinchbeck, 43, of Poole; Thomas Stewart, 40, of Peterborough and Ricky Platt, 49, of Boscombe, were all sentenced to 20 months in prison.
Jules Harriman, NCA senior investigating officer, said: “The main players from this conspiracy are facing very long periods behind bars. Had their smuggling attempt worked, these toxic drugs would have brought misery and violence to many communities around the country.
“The crime group responsible for supplying these offenders has lost their drugs and massive profits that can no longer be ploughed back into further offending.
“Working with partners such as Border Force, the NCA will continue to do all it can to protect the public from the threat of Class A drugs.”
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