“The prosecution contend that those who were involved in the processing of the imported cocaine into... crack cocaine were inevitably also involved in an agreement that the finished product should be supplied to end users.”
“But there was only one call made to her office – according to her evidence – that morning for this call (sic). So it seems to me that to suggest to the jury that the call that came from your client’s telephone lasting three and a half minutes might have been upon some other topic is purely speculative. I shall have something to say about it in my summing-up so it is just as well that you know about it.”
“For you to invite the jury to conclude that it must have been another telephone call would be to invite them to speculate and I shall be directing them that that is one thing they must [not] do and, in any event, I consulted my note as to the evidence of Jenny Saffray who was specific in saying that she took the call requesting a booking for a flight to Antigua for Amy Anne Farrow. [Counsel] Yes. Your Honour, I don’t dispute that. Of course she took the call and the call she took was 10 to 15 minutes long. [The Judge] She said it was about ten minutes long. [Counsel] Well she said in answer to me 10 to 15 minutes long and she agreed that – [The Judge] No, no, if you are going to quote the evidence, I am sorry, but you must do it accurately. She said that the phone call, as she recalled it, was about ten minutes long. She said later she would normally expect a booking by telephone to take about 10 to 15 minutes...”
“There is not evidence of any other call having been taken by Jenny Saffray or any other employee of A & M Travel in connection with this booking and for you to suggest that there was or must have been would be to invite the jury to conjecture. [Counsel] No, your Honour. I – [The Judge] Don’t dispute it with me. That will be my direction to the jury.”
“You can make what points you will. I shall be telling the jury in the clearest of terms that they may not speculate about any matter which ranges outside of the evidence and for them to suppose or conclude that some other telephone call was responsible for this booking would be to do just that and I shall instruct them that they must not.” [Counsel] No, your Honour. I – [The Judge] Don’t dispute it with me. That will be my direction to the jury.”
“But what I must, please, ask you not to do is to conjecture or to speculate about matters which range outside of the evidence... You must confine yourselves to the evidence and what arises from the evidence and not engage in conjecture.”
“Has Mrs Saffray made a mistake in her recollection of the time that it took to take down the details to make the booking?... Or could there be some other explanation for her understanding of how long a telephone booking would normally last and did last, she thinks, in this case. Put it this way, members of the jury. There is no evidence of any other telephone call to A & M Travel in connection with this booking. The only telephone call that we do know about is that which was received by Mrs Saffray in connection with the booking. Is it a coincidence that Sandra Dundas-Jones’ telephone... called A & M travel that morning? If so, to whom did she speak if it was her? About what did she speak? Of course, she has not given evidence and we cannot otherwise know if it was a different phone call.”
“As I say, as Mrs Saffray recalls, the call was probably no more than three or four minutes in duration. In fact, she recalled it as being about ten minutes. But we know it was three and a half minutes. Although she would have expected a telephone call she would have expected a booking to take 10 to 15 minutes. But was it this call from Sandra Dundas-Jones’ mobile telephone that triggered the booking. We have no evidence of any other call that could have done. There it is.”
“Sandra Dundas-Jones’ case is that she played no part, either on her own account or that of her husband, in the importation of a controlled drug or any arrangements for such an importation. In particular she asserts that she had nothing to do with the booking of Amy Anne Farrow’s flight to or from Barbados, through the offices of A & M Travel and their employee Mrs Saffray. Of course you will be mindful of the criticisms of Mrs Saffray’s evidence ventured before your delectation [sic] – if that is the right word – by Mr Ryder yesterday in fairly forceful and perhaps almost pugnacious terms. But that is a matter for you.”
“Ian Dundas-Jones: ‘Are you not talking to me?’ Nekeisha Anderson: ‘I have been in custody 13 months because of you, if you had told me you were going to collect drugs I would not have gone. If you were a man you would tell the truth. All you are interested in is saving your own ass.’ [D-J] ‘I should have told you, I am sorry.’ [A] ‘You are only sorry you got caught, don’t talk to me.’” [D-J] ‘I should have told you, I am sorry.’ [A] ‘You are only sorry you got caught, don’t talk to me.’”
“The Crown’s case against Candy Blackman on Count 1 is that she was an integral part of the organization of the conspiracy with her brother [sc. Benjamin] and others. The Crown say that you can be sure that she transferred monies to enable the conspiracy to continue to import and plan to import, drugs into this country and was fully involved with her named conspirators in facilitating those importations. In relation to Count [4], the disposal of these proceedings [sic] is, say the Crown, evident from her physical activities in the sending of various transfers and evidenced by her list of monies spent an distributed.”
“[If] you are not sure that that was indeed said by Miss Blackman, then you will dismiss it from your minds. The evidence of Miss Jones would, therefore, be of no importance whatsoever. If, on the other hand, you are sure that such an incident took place, you will, no doubt, move to consider its significance in the wider aspects of this indictment.”
“Your role... at the crack factory was that of overall controller or managing director.Both the courier and DHL conspiracies, as well as operations at 6 Bream Gardens, were conducted against the backdrop of prolific and revealing mobile telephone activity between you... and the others involved – and on their part to each other and to you – from which it is possible to discern your supervisory and controlling role with a considerable degree of certainty.”
“There is an abundance of evidence from which I have been able to conclude that you were responsible for organising the following specific activities: multiple importations of cocaine into the UK, transfer of funds abroad, recruiting and meeting and greeting couriers – as well as the recruitment of... Fisher when he was employed by DHL – overseeing the manufacture of imported cocaine into crack and then arranging the distribution of the same. To put it in the vernacular, IDJ, you were a top player.”
“The applicant’s role was plainly central to the conspiracy, but it was essentially confined to manufacture.”
“I consider that albeit your role was not a managerial one, it was nonetheless highly supportive of the operation going on at 6 Bream Gardens. You were an able assistant to ... Clarke and ... Bennett, being at times an errand boy and at times a factory hand and yet again at other times a facilitator.”
“I regard this with some circumspection and in any event, this pressure, if there was such pressure, stopped very far short of amounting to duress...”
“Benjamin, a nine year overstayer, has been described by the Crown as an organizer, a ‘meeter and greeter’, a recruiter and a salesman. He, without doubt, on the evidence fulfilled to a greater or lesser extent some or all of those roles.”
“I do not think that the sentence, in those circumstances, varies upon my understanding of his criminal involvement in the DHL importations. Rather than Count 19, I should specify it is Count 20.”
“It is clear... that you made an important contribution to the aims and objectives of these conspiracies. It seems to me that you were... Dundas-Jones’ right-hand man as an organizer, a manager and a meeter and greeter of couriers. ...[Y]ou assisted in the arrangements for the importation of cocaine... by... Farrow and in the arrangements for the postal package importations by DHL. Mobile telephone analysis – and I note some ten mobile telephones were found in your possession at the time of your arrest – showed prolific contact between you,... Dundas-Jones and George Shanks, as well as... Fisher and other members of these conspiracies.”
“...[H]e was aware of a source of supply of cocaine different from Count 1 in respect of which he agreed to become concerned in the supply.”
“... Blackman was a book-keeper – a money launderer – and on the verdict of the jury, both a main participant in the conspiracy to import and one of those who moved on its proceeds... [S]he was, on the evidence, someone on whom reliance was placed to keep the finances of the conspirators abroad topped up as necessary. There is no evidence that she physically handled drugs, but full participation in the conspiracy can – as the jury demonstrated by their verdict – be achieved simply by greasing its wheels...”
“... Benjamin, a nine years overstayer, has been described by the Crown as an organizer, a ‘meeter and greeter’, a recruiter and a salesman. He, without doubt, on the evidence fulfilled to a greater or lesser extent some or all of those roles. He is, I hear, remorseful now... It was accepted by his counsel, entirely properly on the evidence, that there is evidence of criminality by him, but not necessarily involvement in a drugs conspiracy from October 2003. But I accept that upon his arrest in April 2004, his capacity to remain practically involved then ceased... Benjamin acknowledges his part in the payment of the monies to... Jones, which secured the ticket purchase for... Dwen. He was the collector... of... Antoine and the cocaine which she carried and would, no doubt, have arranged for the delivery of that cocaine elsewhere. He discharged a vital function for the life of this conspiracy on those two occasions as a facilitator of the importation and intended distribution of significant quantities of cocaine of high purity.”
“I am sorry to disappoint. The sentence I passed was precisely the sentence that I intended. I had to maintain a reasoned matrix with the other defendants. I cannot alter it under the slip rule, because I do not believe that I have made a slip...”
“[I]t should be noted that at no stage was she prepared to assist the police in any other way concerning those involved in the importation of the drugs with which she was concerned.”