18/05/2007 01:00:00
UK: Jail for man who ran one of UK's
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A BEECH man has been jailed for one of the biggest drugs production
operations the UK has ever seen. Allen Taylor, 38, was given a
seven-year sentence at Winchester Crown Court on Friday, May 4, for
masterminding the operation at Kings Hill Farm, Beech. The court heard
that the cannabis farm could have become the biggest in the country with
its 4,000 plants netting in the region of £1.5 million a year. Several
buildings on the farm had been divided up into rooms to grow, harvest
and dry the weed, with one crop alone expected to produce a street value
of £330,000 But, after spending £20,000 of his own money on the project,
Taylor – a family man and well respected in the community – will never
see a return. The father of two had spent £15,000 on building supplies
and used his good credit rating to set up sophisticated light, heat and
water systems. He had installed electronic gates at both ends of the
eight-acre farm and employed a labour force of five – one of the team,
Michael Dickinson from Doncaster, had previous drugs-related convictions
and had been brought in to advise on how to cultivate cannabis en mase.
Police suspicions had been raised by other investigations and following
a tip-off that the premises was consuming vast quantities of water and
electricity. The premises was raided during the early hours of April 28,
2005, and several men were arrested. Allen Taylor was arrested shortly
after. Pc Kevin Darvill of the Serious Crime unit in Southampton said it
had soon became clear that Taylor had “used his business as a front to
finance and also to hide behind financing this criminal enterprise”. It
was, he said, “certainly the biggest cannabis farm we know of in
Hampshire, and potentially one of the biggest in England.” During the
investigation officers also unearthed plans to buy a former MOD site at
Dunkerswell near Exeter and turn it into a massive drugs factory. The
proposal to convert underground bunkers would have made the Beech set-up
look like “child’s play”. In sentencing Allen Taylor to seven years for
his part as “the prime mover” in the Beech enterprise, Judge Recorder
Alastair Malcolm said that Taylor had provided the premises and the
finance, and would have provided funds for the Exeter site as well.
While Taylor hadn’t thought of the idea, he would have profited from the
business and had been quite happy to take part in it. In the judge’s
opinion, Taylor had clearly been “motivated by greed”. The other five
defendants also received prison sentences. Described as the ‘eyes and
ears’ of his brother, Alexander Taylor, 29, from Christchurch, Dorset,
was jailed for three years, Kevin Conway, 40, from Warwick and said to
be in on the operation from the start, received five years, while
‘right-hand man’ Peter Willis, 38, from Honiton in Devon was sentenced
to 42 months and James Barrett, 21, also from Honiton, will spend a year
behind bars. Michael Dickinson, 38, was jailed for four years but had
appeared separately for security reasons.
http://www.alton-herald-today.co.uk/
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12562
Author:
Alton Today via UKCIA
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