TWO Islanders have been jailed after their plan to smuggle £100,000 of suspected drug money to France was scuppered when their boat broke down.
Sean Liam Cooney (29) was sent to prison for five years and Joseph John Reaney (31) for three years and nine months. Both men admitted money-laundering offences.
Following a lengthy investigation by the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service, the pair were arrested in the early hours of 15 December 2021 at Belval Cove, St Catherine’s Bay, when they had the cash in zip-up bags.
When questioned by the States police, the two men maintained that they did not know where the cash had come from. However, Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit, prosecuting, told the Royal Court yesterday that the ‘most likely cause of this offence was drug trafficking’.
He said that the attempt to launder the money failed because of a fault with the boat, which Cooney had purchased online under a false name.
The pair were forced to return to shore, where police officers were waiting for them.
Advocate Maletroit said Cooney had previous criminal convictions for drug trafficking and money laundering, while Reaney was in financial difficulty owing to a gambling habit.
He added: ‘In the pre-sentence report, [Cooney] maintains to the probation officer that he was a peripheral player. He is trying to deflect his involvement but it should be noted that what he said [to the probation officer] is inconsistent.’
The advocate called for a five-year sentence for Cooney and a sentence of three years and ten months for Reaney.
Advocate Darry Robinson, defending Cooney, said: ‘The thrust of Cooney’s plea today is one of mercy. He knows that he faces a lengthy sentencing and he is asking the learned court to be as merciful as possible.
‘It was quite an oversight trying to hide one’s identity and hardly that of a criminal mastermind.’
Advocate Robinson added that his client ‘was not the key man’ in this offence and that his client was ‘very sorry’ for having entered a guilty plea at a late stage.
Advocate James Bell, defending Reaney, recommended a community-based sentence for his client, who he said had already served one year in custody.
Advocate Bell said: ‘The court should not be so unduly harsh when sentencing Mr Reaney. The court needs to make a judgment as to who did what. It’s clear that Mr Reaney’s involvement was unsophisticated.
‘He is remorseful. That remorse is genuine. It is reflected in his guilty plea and he should have full credit for that guilty plea. He has held his hands up and that resonates with someone who is genuinely remorseful. Mr Reaney has no relevant previous convictions.’
Commissioner Sir William Bailhache, presiding, said the court did ‘not get the impression that he [Cooney] accepts responsibility for what he has done’.
He said: ‘The appropriate disparity is reflected by the lateness of the guilty plea of Mr Cooney and also by the additional mitigation given by Mr Reaney.’
Cooney, who entered a late guilty plea to the charge of money laundering and has 34 previous convictions, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
Reaney was sentenced to three years and nine months for the same offence.
Sir William cited Reaney’s ‘very early guilty plea’ and lack of previous offending as mitigating factors for the disparity in sentences.
Commenting after the sentencing, Customs senior manager Luke Goddard said: ‘The arrest and conviction of those involved in the movement of criminal assets is a priority for the Customs and Immigration Service.
‘This case demonstrates the lengths criminals will go to in order to move the proceeds of their criminal activity and the measures that will be taken by this service in order to prevent them from doing so.
‘Undoubtedly the actions of this service have dismantled a criminal syndicate that was based in the Island.’
