Prison for illicit cigarette crime leader

A CRIME kingpin who ran a massive bid to flood the UK with illicit cigarettes, tobacco and alcohol from inside a jail cell has been handed a three-year jail term.

Irvin Dunn (56), whose brother Wayne Dunn (57), was also part of the plot to evade import duty, “pulled the strings” in the fraud while doing time, Sheffield Crown Courth heard.

The Dunn brothers, of  Red Hill, Kiveton Park, and Abbeyfield Road, Sheffield respectively, were among five men sentenced for the plot on Thursday, including Lee Pearson (33), of Wilberforce Road, South Anston.

They were caught after HMRC officers witnessed the handover of a bag containing almost £110,000 involving co-defendants James Woods and Vincent McGeough, both from Northern Ireland, near East Midlands Airport in April 2013.

After they were arrested, it soon became clear Wayne Dunn — already on bail after being stopped in Ipswich driving a van containing 800,000 illicit cigarettes in February 2013 — was an associate.

The HMRC said the development helped investigators link Dunn back to an unattended van found laden with 169,000 illicit cigarettes in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, in January 2013, from which records showing tobacco purchases and sales were seized.

A spokesman added: “Searches were carried out of Dunn’s home as the conspiracy unfolded, leading HMRC officers to his younger brother, Irvin Dunn, who appeared to be organising the fraud from his prison cell.”

Pearson, who “looked after” barns used as storage at Everton, near Bawtry, was arrested in October 2013 after a van linked to the Dunn brothers was found near the buildings.

The vehicle was strewn with packets of tobacco and cigarettes after having its window smashed in a break-in.

HMRC searched the two barns, where tobacco and more than 1,000 litres of illicit beer and vodka, which contained toxic methanol 150 times the legal limit, were discovered.

Phone records analysis showed Pearson was part of the conspiracy.

Wayne Dunn was jailed for 21 months after admitting conspiracy to evade duty, while Pearson, Woods and McGeough were sentenced to 12 months, suspended for 18 months, for the same offence.

Stuart Taylor, assistant director of the HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said:

“These men all played a part in flooding the UK with illegal cigarettes, tobacco and alcohol solely to line their own pockets with money that should have been funding vital public services.

“Irvin Dunn even pulled the strings while he was in prison using coded messages. But their fraud has been broken down and picked apart and now they are all paying the price.

“The evasion of excise duty is a criminal offence. If you are caught you will not only have your goods seized but you may also face prosecution and, if convicted, a criminal record and potentially a prison sentence. Anyone with information about the illegal trade in smuggled cigarettes and tobacco should contact the Customs hotline on 0800 59 5000.”

Confiscation proceedings will be launched to recover the proceeds of their criminal activity, Mr Taylor said.

 

Related topics: