News In Focus
11 August 2006
Drugs gang sentences reduced by appeal court
A gang of drug dealers caught with more than £2 million worth of heroin had their jail sentences reduced by the criminal appeal court in Edinburgh yesterday.
Robert Campbell and Joseph Wright were sentenced to 21 years each in 2004 for their part in the crime, while John Wallace had been sentenced to 19 years and Kevin Connolly, a courier in the operation, to 12 years. The sentences were imposed at the High Court in Edinburgh by Lord Hardie, who said he wanted to send out a message to drug dealers.
The case had involved a total of 21kg of heroin - worth an estimated £2.15 million on the streets - and £1 million of this was estimated to have been sold by the time the men werre caught. It had been transferred in bulk from Liverpool to Glasgow.
Lords Abernethy, Philip and Wheatley yesterday decided the sentences had been excessive. While the maximum sentence available to the court was life imprisonment, Lord Abernethy pointed out that offenders could only be sentenced for what they had been convicted of or pled guilty to.
In the opinion of the appeal judges, Campbell should have been sentenced to 18 years, but given a reduction to 16 years for pleading guilty. Wright's sentence was cut by eight years to 13, Wallace's by six and a half years to 12 1/2 and Connolly's by four years to eight years.
The court's decision can be read at http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/2006HCJAC60.html .