Matthew Woods, Kurt Hughes and Daniel Moody were sentenced for plotting to import cocaine and cannabis into the Isle of Man hidden in a car.[1] Woods, 24, received 18 years and nine months for smuggling almost £100,000 of cocaine and about £78,000 of cannabis to the island on 6 June 2022.[1] Hughes, 58, whose Liverpool-based garage was used to hide the drugs in the vehicle, received 10 years and eight months.[1] Moody, 36, received four years for helping to package the cannabis.[1]
Hughes serviced a BMW, stored it in his garage overnight, and it was collected in the morning.[1] Spotswood was jailed for 15 years last August for playing a leading role in an organised crime gang that imported cocaine and cannabis to the island.[1][2][3][4] Hughes pleaded guilty to charges of being concerned in the importation of cocaine and the importation of cannabis.[1] Moody was found guilty of playing a part in importing the cannabis, while Woods was convicted of being concerned in the importation of both cocaine and cannabis following a trial.[1]
Woods was also sentenced for a separate charge of being concerned in the importation of cocaine in August 2021 and for causing grievous bodily harm in March 2023 while on bail for the drugs offences.[1] Deemster Graeme Cook said Woods was high up the chain and had played a part in coordinating the operation through phone communication.[1] Moody and Hughes were also given exclusion orders forbidding them from returning to the Isle of Man for five years after release.[1] The three were sentenced on Wednesday.[1]
Darryl Thomas was jailed for nine years for his role in an organised crime gang importing cocaine and cannabis to the Isle of Man.[5] Thomas pleaded guilty to importing cocaine and cannabis to the island.[5] In June 2022, Thomas arranged for another man to take a vehicle containing the drugs from north-west England to the Isle of Man by ferry.[5] Police found 20 packages of cannabis and cocaine in the vehicle when they searched it on arrival in Douglas.[5]
The BMW was stopped at Douglas’s Sea Terminal on 6 June 2022, and the 20 packages behind its rear panels held 3,920.95 grams of cannabis.[6] McHarrie was the last of six men jailed over the June 2022 car-boot smuggling of cannabis and cocaine to the island.[2] McHarrie was jailed for 21 years and nine months for his involvement in importing cocaine and cannabis to the Isle of Man and laundering drug money.[2] McHarrie was found guilty after a July trial of being concerned in the importation of cocaine and cannabis.[2]
Spotswood admitted the June 2022 production of 999.56 grams of cocaine and 3.9 kilos of cannabis alongside the August 2021 production of 248.7 grams of cocaine.[4] The June 2022 consignment comprised 3.9 kilos of cannabis valued at £78,419 and cocaine valued at between £99,956 and £142,794.[4] He received 15 years for the cocaine offences with three years concurrent for cannabis production, plus a five-year island ban after release.[4] His conviction came under joint Isle of Man police and North West Regional Crime Unit Operation Achilles, which has seen a dozen members of the same group sentenced.[4]