Two members of the Freshwater Five, a group of Isle of Wight fishermen jailed for attempting to smuggle £53 million of cocaine, are challenging their convictions at the Court of Appeal. New radar evidence suggests it was impossible for them to have collected the drugs at sea, their lawyers argue.
The group was sentenced to a collective 104 years in 2011 for conspiracy to import 250kg of cocaine. Jonathan Beere, 51, and Daniel Payne, 46, are now seeking to overturn their 24-year and 18-year sentences respectively.
At the original trial, the prosecution claimed that skipper Jamie Green, along with Payne, Zoran Dresic, and Scott Birtwistle, collected the drugs from the container ship Oriane in the English Channel using the fishing boat Galwad-Y-Mor. Beere was said to have acted as a liaison with the organisers.
However, new data from the UK Border Agency vessel Vigilant, obtained seven years after the trial, shows that the Galwad-Y-Mor never crossed behind the Oriane, making a drug transfer impossible. Joel Bennathan QC for the appellants stated that the possibility of coopering the cocaine was 'simply impossible' based on the new evidence.
The data also revealed an unidentified small vessel travelling at high speed to Freshwater Bay shortly after the Galwad-Y-Mor passed nearby, suggesting an alternative suspect for depositing the drugs. Additionally, a surveillance plane was overhead at the time but reported nothing in the water, contradicting earlier assumptions.
The prosecution is expected to argue that the convictions remain safe when the hearing continues on Thursday.
