Four men convicted of trying to smuggle £100m of cocaine in fishing boat

Four men have been convicted of attempting to smuggle £100 million of cocaine on a fishing boat off the coast of Cornwall.

Michael Kelly, 45, from Portway, Manchester, and Jake Marchant, 27, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to importing Class A drugs during a hearing at Truro Crown Court in October.

Two other men, Jon Williams, 46, and Patrick Godfrey, 31, both of Swansea, were convicted of the charge after a trial at the same court, on Wednesday. The four defendants will be sentenced in May.

The National Crime Agency (NCA), which investigated the case, said 1,076kg of high purity cocaine was found on the fishing boat the Lila Lola on September 13 last year.

HMC Valiant

Shortly after 2pm on that day, the Border Force cutter HMC Valiant was on patrol off the north coast of Cornwall and deployed a smaller boat to intercept the Lily Lola.

Williams, the captain, was at the helm, with Marchant next to him. Kelly was in the accommodation area and Godfrey was asleep in a deck chair, the NCA said.

A device on board the boat was later downloaded and some messages were recovered, showing instructions and co-ordinates being sent from a third party.

Godfrey’s phone was seized and found to have sent a message reading “delete everything u see and not show anybody”, as well as an internet search for “how long does it take a ship to leave peru to uk”.

Tracker

Investigators from the NCA also discovered a tracker in the drugs haul, linked to a user in South America.

Speaking after the convictions of Williams and Godfrey, NCA branch commander Derek Evans said investigators were working around the clock to “erode the criminal networks” benefiting from the drugs take.

“The NCA and Border Force have prevented a huge haul of cocaine from hitting the streets of the UK and wider Europe, where it would have blighted countless lives and communities,” he said.

“We’ve disrupted a drug supply chain and ensured organised criminals are deprived of the significant profits they would have gained had these drugs made it into the country.”

In interview, Williams, Godfrey and Marchant made no comment. Kelly claimed he was on a fishing trip.

They will be sentenced at Truro Crown Court on May 8.