Money launderer ordered to pay back £195,000 following the convictions of Sussex drugs network
19/08/2011
James John McCue, who was convicted on the 11th March 2011 of money laundering on behalf of a Sussex drugs supply network, has today (19th August) been ordered to pay back £195,217 at Maidstone Crown Court.
His son, James Daniel Parker-McCue, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment for conspiracy to supply cocaine on 15 October last year, alongside co-conspirators Fergus Gilman and Shaun Clancy, who were sentenced to five years imprisonment each and Darren Simpson, sentenced to six years, three months imprisonment, following a covert police operation which uncovered the organised supply network between October 2008 and April 2009.
Speaking after the hearing, Crown Advocate Anthony Hill said:
"This is the end of the road for this gang and the confiscation of their assets prevents the proceeds of their activity from being reinvested into other criminal acts. The scale of their illegal business demonstrates how important it is that the network was dismantled and the individuals involved were brought to justice."
The men, who operated across Sussex, were concerned in the wholesale supply of cocaine, obtaining large quantities at high purities and adulterating or cutting the drug with other pharmaceutical agents for onward sale and lucrative profits.
The leader of the organised crime group, James Daniel Parker-McCue, laundered some of the criminal proceeds through his father James John McCue and partner Kelly Cooke, who received hundreds of thousands of pounds in cash either directly or indirectly from him. The prosecution always contended that each knew or suspected it came from criminal activity and a jury convicted on this basis on 11 March, following which McCue and Cooke were sentenced to 3 years imprisonment each.
All were shown to have been living a lifestyle and banking cash far in excess of any legitimate income.
Anthony Hill added: "This network made a lot of money on the back of supplying cocaine and James John McCue helped to convert the proceeds of their crimes into assets which he hoped would not be traced back to their source.
"He and wife travelled extensively, spending over £25,000 on holidays and leisure breaks for their family since March 2003, and yet the Inland Revenue held no record of employment or self-employed earnings for Mr McCue. They bought a £32,000 Mercedes motorcar for their son James Parker-McCue and his partner Kelly Cooke, assisted with a purchase of property in Spain and lavished thousands of pounds on beauty treatments and cosmetic dentistry for Ms Cooke. Although James John McCue rented a plot from Brighton and Hove Council as a street trader, he held no books for the business.
"He feigned confusion about his records and accounts when interviewed by police, but knew what he was involved in. He initially claimed to be a successful gambler, but expert examination of a ledger of his winnings demonstrated this to be a sham deliberately constructed to account for a hidden source of income. Mr McCue sought to portray himself merely as a generous father whose paperwork was in a muddle. We were able to prove that he was far more cynical and calculating than that. The reason such enormous gifts were being lavished on his son and partner was that this was the son's drug money in the first place which was being laundered for his benefit."
Notes to Editors
1. Kelly Cooke was ordered to pay £1,350 at an earlier hearing on the 1st August 2011 with a balance of £84,164.37 to be paid back in the future if further assets are realised.
2. Kelly Cooke was in receipt of a mixture of state benefits and did not declare any additional cash earnings to HM Revenue and Customs or the Department of Work and Pensions. She operated an account which was credited with cash totalling £32,575 over a six year period, drove a £32,000 Mercedes motorcar registered in her name, holidayed with her partner, daughter and other members of the McCue family in Barbados, Varadero [Cuba], St. Lucia, Nassau, Rhodes, Egypt and Jamaica; and spent at least £67,365.36 on rent and luxuries including £7,735.64 on cosmetic dentistry, £3,522.90 on beauty treatments and products, and £6,386 on furniture.
3. James Daniel Parker-McCue was ordered to pay £7,671.14 at an earlier hearing on the 1st August 2011 with a balance of £605,222.85 to be paid back in the future if further assets are realised.
4. On the 18th January 2010, James Parker-McCue pleaded guilty to being involved in a conspiracy with Darren Simpson, Fergus Gilman, Shaun Clancy and others unknown to supply cocaine, a controlled drug of class A. This followed his extradition from Spain after a European Arrest Warrant was issued the previous year. He was arrested by Spanish police at his 28th birthday party in an apartment in Alicante he had purchased for £220,000 which has since been repossessed.
5. On the 14th July 2009, Darren Simpson pleaded guilty to 2 charges; one of possession with intent to supply 3 kgs of cocaine he was caught with on the 8th April 2009 and possession of criminal property, £12,000 in cash, that was recovered from the home he shared with his partner Darren Graysmark. On the 7th December 2010 he was ordered to pay £21,920.11 under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
6. On the 26th July 2010, Darren Graysmark, a police officer and the partner of Darren Simpson, pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge alleging that he converted £80,921.47 knowing or suspecting that it represented his partner's earnings from crime. He was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment on the 25th August 2010. On the 7th December 2010 he was ordered to pay £85,671.55 under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
7. On the 1st September 2010, Fergus Gilman and Shaun Clancy pleaded guilty to being involved in a conspiracy with Darren Simpson, James Parker-McCue and others unknown to supply cocaine, a controlled drug of class A.
8. On the 11th March 2011 James John McCue's wife Linda Marie McCue was found not guilty of money laundering.
