- Gangster challenges conviction for cannabis smuggling
- Curtis Warren was jailed in 2009 after Jersey officers bugged a hire car he was travelling in across Europe and listened to his conversations
- Read the timeline of the case below
DRUGS baron Curtis Warren has lodged papers demanding a fresh appeal against his 13-year jail sentence for trying to smuggle £1 million of cannabis into the Island.
The Liverpool-born gangster was jailed in 2009 after Jersey officers bugged a hire car he was travelling in across Europe and listened to his conversations.
The evidence proved key in jailing the notorious criminal – nicknamed ‘Cocky’ – and four other men.
In 2011 Warren, who once topped Interpol’s most wanted list, appealed against his sentence on the grounds that evidence against him had been obtained unlawfully.
However, his conviction was upheld by the UK Privy Council.
Now Warren has applied for a new appeal to be granted after his lawyers gained access to transcripts from Jersey officers used during a police disciplinary hearing against them.
Three States police officers, David Minty, Louis Beghin and Lawrence Courtness, faced disciplinary proceedings for bugging the car but they were later exonerated by Durham police chief Michael Barton, who led the investigation.
If his appeal is upheld, Warren, who was sentenced to an extra ten years after failing to pay back a £198 million fortune that investigators believe he made from his global drugs trading, could be freed from prison and have the confiscation order withdrawn.
The 51-year-old’s legal representative in the UK, barrister Anthony Barraclough, confirmed to the JEP that appeal papers had been sent to the Lieutenant-Governor’s office.
However, he declined to comment any further, or explain why the papers had been sent to the Lieutenant-Governor.
Speaking to the Liverpool Echo newspaper he said: ‘I understand that the officers have made serious allegations against the state.
‘It is fair to say that this is significant, fresh evidence which was not available previously and must be looked at.
‘These claims need to be examined very carefully and that is what Curtis Warren is asking for.’
Advocate Stephen Baker, who represents Warren in Jersey, also confirmed papers had been sent to the Lieutenant-Governor and that new evidence had come to light following a disclosure of material from the Crown to the defence team.
‘We are awaiting a response. We have had a formal acknowledgement of the receipt of the papers but that is all so far.’
A spokesman for Government House told the JEP that they were unable to comment on the matter at this time.
In a statement the States police said: ‘We are aware of media reporting in respect of these assertions of lodging an appeal.
‘However, this is not currently a matter for the police.’
11 July 2007
Police launch Operation Kuala Floss to track a car that was to be used to travel to France and import £1 million of cannabis to Jersey.
12 July
The Dutch and French authorities refuse consent for audio recording devices to be used in their countries.
18 July
Police officers are sent to France to install the bug in a car and are instructed to lie to French police.
21 and 22 July
Police arrest Curtis Warren and others in and around St Helier.
October 2007–October 2009
Various court applications are made to rule out evidence gained illegally by the police and various attempts are made to have the trial case thrown out. The new Magistrate’s Court building is used throughout for security reasons.
16 September 2009
Amid unprecedented security around St Helier, the trial begins in the Royal Court.
7 October 2009
Warren and five others are found guilty of plotting to import £1m of cannabis to Jersey.
21 October
Warren is secretly flown out of the Island to one of Britain’s toughest jails amid speculation that a plot to spring him from La Moye prison had been uncovered. The Liverpool gangster is transferred to London’s Belmarsh prison for ‘security reasons’.
3 December
Curtis Warren is jailed for 13 years for his failed attempt to execute Jersey’s biggest ever drugs importation. Appearing via video link from
London’s high-security Belmarsh prison, the drugs baron casually read a book as the Royal Court was told of his flawed bid to capture the Jersey drugs scene.
March 2011
Warren appealed against his sentence on the grounds that evidence against him had been obtained unlawfully. However, his conviction was upheld by the UK Privy Council.
December 2013
An additional ten years was added onto Warren’s sentence after he failed to hand over £198 million that investigators believe he made from his global drugs trading. The confiscation order, passed by the Royal Court, was the largest ever made in Britain.
17 February 2014
Claims that Warren had an affair with a prison worker while he was locked up at La Moye are denied by his lawyer. Teresa Rodrigues, who ran the drugs and alcohol counselling unit at the prison, reportedly told a national newspaper that she and Warren had ‘sex every day’ in his cell while he was on remand for drug smuggling. The senior manager, who was employed directly by the prison at the time, said that their affair went on in his cell – B47 in the Bwing on the third floor – under the noses of prison officers and with other inmates keeping a lookout. She said the affair went on for two years until he was removed from the Island.
