Men who plotted to import drugs in car jailed

Trio sought to bring large quantities of cocaine and cannabis to Island

A man has been jailed for 18 years and nine months for a plot to import large quantities of cocaine and cannabis to the Isle of Man hidden in a car, BBC Isle of Man reports.

Matthew Woods, 24, was involved in smuggling almost £100,000 worth of cocaine and about £78,000 worth of cannabis into the island on 6 June 2022.

Kurt Hughes, 58, whose Liverpool-based garage was used to hide the drugs in the vehicle, was jailed for 10 years and eight months.

Thirty-six-year-old Daniel Moody was sentenced to four years for helping to package the cannabis.

The court heard that Hughes, of Elm Avenue, Liverpool, had been asked to service a car by James Spotswood, who was jailed for 15 years last August for playing a leading role in an organised crime gang that imported cocaine and cannabis to the island.

The 58-year-old worked on the BMW and stored it in his garage overnight before it was collected in the morning.

Hughes pleaded guilty to charges of being concerned in the importation of cocaine and the importation of cannabis.

Moody, of Rock Ferry, Merseyside, was found guilty of playing a part in importing the cannabis, while Woods was convicted of being concerned in the importation of both cocaine and cannabis following a trial.

Woods, of Saddle Road, Douglas, was also sentenced for a separate charge of being concerned in the importation of cocaine in August 2021, and causing grievous bodily harm in March 2023 while on bail for the drugs offences.

The court heard his victim had to be airlifted to hospital after being punched in the early hours of 25 March last year on Victoria Street in Douglas.

Sentencing him, Deemster Graeme Cook said Woods was "high up" the chain in the drugs operation and had played a part in co-ordinating it through phone communication.

"You didn't get your hands dirty, you got others to do your dirty work," he said.

The victim of Woods' assault has been left with serious injuries, which he would "have to live with for the rest of his life, and you will have to deal with that", the deemster added.