Sunderland man jailed nine years over £1m South African cannabis plot
Newcastle Crown Court sentenced William Hellens, 44, of Sunderland to nine years in prison for conspiring to smuggle cannabis with a street value of more than £1 million from South Africa. Hellens had fled to Spain during the inquiry and was caught in Sunderland in December 2002 using a false identity.
Newcastle Crown Court sentenced William Hellens, 44, of Mafeking Street, Pallion, Sunderland, to nine years in prison for conspiracy to import cannabis between March 1998 and April 1999.[1][2]A jury had convicted him on a majority verdict after he pleaded not guilty.[1]
Customs officers at Tilbury had found 90 kilos of herbal cannabis with a street value of £280,000 concealed in a consignment of 20 tonnes of andalusite, a gravel-type mineral, from South Africa in April 1999.[1]The shipment was addressed to a Sunderland warehouse and kept under surveillance, but nobody came to collect it.[1]Further inquiry led to Stephen Vaughan and Robert John Anderson, who pleaded guilty on 7 February 2000 over that shipment and four earlier ones; the judge ruled a total of 360 kilos worth over £1 million had been imported, jailing Vaughan for six and a half years and Anderson for two.[1]
Hellens had fled to Spain during the investigation.[1]In December 2002 Northumbria Police stopped him in Sunderland, where he was using a false identity, over a minor motoring offence.[1]He had served five years for supplying Ecstasy in 1993 and was still on licence when he joined the conspiracy.[2]
Case data
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Darren Davis, 39, a homeless man, and his partner Catherine Evans, 36, were sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court in November 2026 for dealing 'spice' and a small cannabis quantity. Police found Davis carrying six bags of spice worth up to £750 on 2 June, and later searches of his hostel, a storage unit and Evans' home uncovered more drugs and thousands of pounds in cash.
Joel Niven, 20, of Walney near Barrow-in-Furness, was convicted of cannabis possession after officers recovered a sealed bag from him at Barrow Park. Magistrates fined him £80, ordered £117 in costs and surcharge, and sought forfeiture of the drugs. He had a previous caution for cannabis possession from December 2025.
Rorie Jeffs, 25, of Aylesbury, was found guilty of possession of cannabis at High Wycombe Magistrates' Court and ordered to pay £85 plus a further £26 surcharge. He was one of the most recent cases concluded at the court as reported in the 10 November 2026 round-up.
Three men were each jailed for four years over a large-scale cannabis factory in Greenock's former Tobacco Warehouse, raided in June 2025 with more than 1,000 plants. Ariel Ruko has appealed his sentence, with a hearing due at the High Court in Edinburgh on 17 November 2026.
