South Shields man jailed for part in £4million drugs plot

A South Tyneside man has been jailed for four years and two months for his part in a £4million drugs plot.
Daniel Thompson from South Shields has been jailed for his part in a 4million drugs plotDaniel Thompson from South Shields has been jailed for his part in a 4million drugs plot
Daniel Thompson from South Shields has been jailed for his part in a 4million drugs plot

Daniel Thompson from Reubens Avenue, South Shields was one of six men arrested in connection with a scheme to ship cannabis to the North East from London.

The two-year conspiracy involved dozens of 600-mile round trips from London to the South Shields area, driving drugs up and bringing cash back.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The 28-year-old was jailed for four years and two months, at Kingston Crown Court, today, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply a Class B drug between January 2014 and February 2016.

He was sentenced alongside Neil Acourt, also known as Neil Stuart, who was described as the "man at the top."

The 41-year-old of Eltham, south-east London, was one of the men arrrested in connection with the murder of Stephen Lawrence, who was stabbed to death by a gang of white men at a bus stop in Eltham, south-east London in 1993.

Acourt was sentenced to six years and three months.

The Judge Recorder Paul Clements described the plot as a pre-planned and concerted effort to move substantial amounts of cannabis "that in any estimation would have kept the people of the Newcastle area in spliffs for many a long day".

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Acourt's childhood friend James Botton, 45, father-in-law Jack Vose, 63, and family friend Lee Birks, 55, were all recruited into the plot. Vose was caught with around 220lb of cannabis resin in the back of his white van in South Shields in February last year.

Vose, of Bexley, Kent, and Botton, of Greenwich, south-east London, were each jailed for four years and nine months.

Paul Beavers, 49, of Backworth, Tyne and Wear, was jailed for three years and four months.

Birks, of Orpington, Kent, had his sentencing postponed for medical reports.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The judge added: "Just look at you all - all six of you - all thoroughly ashamed of yourselves, all having ruined your lives by your involvement in this."

He continued: "There are people who can have a dramatically adverse reaction to smoking cannabis.

"At the very least it preys upon inadequate people who are hopeless and helpless, who don't have the necessary financial means to support their need for the drugs."