A FORMER jeweller who was jailed for money laundering offences has been denied the right to challenge a court ruling over how his case was handled by the police – after failing to turn up to court despite telling the opposing lawyer he would “see you tomorrow” a day prior.
Darius Pearce (54), who was jailed for seven-and-a-half years in 2021 after being convicted of taking cash from a drug smuggling ring and using it to buy gold bullion which he later sold for cash, launched the latest salvo in a prolonged legal battle by making a claim for compensation over what he described as his “wrongful” arrest.
Pearce alleged that as a result of the arrest he had incurred substantial losses to his business, as well as having items worth £115,000 unlawfully seized, and also claimed £5,500 in compensation for false arrest and £425 for the cost of a replacement front door at his St Helier property.
A Royal Court hearing proceeded in Pearce’s absence yesterday. Advocate Steve Meiklejohn, respresenting States of Jersey Police, said he could not explain why Pearce did not attend court, as he had been present at a preliminary hearing in February when the date was fixed.
Furthermore, the lawyer said he had encountered Pearce by chance in a shop the day before the hearing and been told “see you tomorrow”.
Commissioner Alan Binnington said that Pearce had sent an email to the court seeking an adjournment to the case as a result of outstanding matters and a “change in circumstances” which left him unable to attend.
Mr Binnington said he wasn’t satisfied that Pearce had any particularly good reason for his non-attendance, and that if he wished to adjourn the case he should have come to court and stated his case. In the circumstances, the judge ruled, it was “entirely proper” to hold the hearing in Pearce’s absence.
Advocate Meiklejohn said the decision to arrest Pearce in June 2019 had been “entirely vindicated” by his subsequent conviction for the money laundering offences following a six-day trial, with the conviction later being upheld on multiple occasions following unsuccessful appeals.
Pearce appealed against his conviction in 2022, arguing there was no case to answer and that the sentence was too severe for the offences for which he was convicted.
However the Court of Appeal rejected this argument, noting it was “founded on an interpretation of the law so strained as to be almost incomprehensible”.
Pearce was also denied leave to appeal against his sentence.
Mr Binnington said Pearce had failed to demonstrate that his claim for compensation had a realistic prospect of success, nor that his legal challenge was not “scandalous, frivolous or vexatious”.
“To allow this matter to continue would be an abuse of the process of the court,” he said.
Pearce’s conviction followed a sting operation which saw Customs and States police officers intercept a gang’s yacht carrying almost £1 million-worth of drugs at Belval in June 2019. Seven of those involved in the plot were later jailed for a combined total of 74 years.
A police investigation found that between March and June 2019, large sums of money were being moved from Jersey to the UK, by numerous members of the drugs gang using various methods including carrying out cash by flight or ferry.
