An organised crime group that plotted to smuggle 600 kilos of cocaine on a yacht in a transatlantic sailing race, and imported more than half a tonne of cannabis, have been jailed for a total of more than 111 years.
Lee McClenaghan, 57, from Chelmsford, devised the plan to use a yacht in the 2020 race from St Lucia to Lagos, Portugal. He sent his associate Lea Talbot, 55, from Chadwell St Mary, to meet Venezuelan drug bosses before the event. However, the race was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic after two years of planning.
The gang then switched to smuggling cocaine in shipping containers of fruit and vegetables, and cannabis from Morocco. They also imported 676 kilos of cannabis from Canada and South Africa. Border Force officers at Tilbury Port found 408 kilos of cannabis hidden in a machine lathe in March 2022, and 268 kilos in toolboxes at Southampton in July 2023.
At Chelmsford Crown Court, McClenaghan was jailed for 30 years, Talbot for 23 years, Daniel Braithwaite for 22 years, Ian Magee for 20 years, John Campbell for 10 years, and Kane Ward for six years and six months. Karl Richter, 52, from Swansea, is due to be sentenced on October 16.
Detective Inspector Richard Smith from the Organised Crime Partnership said: “The cocaine smuggling plan conceived by McClenaghan and Talbot was daring and would have been incredibly lucrative had it succeeded. Its failure deprived organised criminals of the profits this large amount of cocaine would have generated.”
