Selsey cocaine smuggling gang jailed for more than 100 years over £40m drugs plot

Twelve members of an organised crime gang involved in a plot to smuggle £40 million worth of cocaine onto a West Sussex beach have been sentenced to more than 100 years in prison between them.

The criminals were caught following a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation into an operation to bring 500kg of cocaine into the UK through Medmerry Beach near Selsey.

Officers were waiting when members of the gang arrived on the beach on 19 August 2024, carrying 16 bales of cocaine with an estimated purity of 85 per cent.

The drugs had been dropped into the sea several days earlier, around 40 nautical miles south of the Needles, near the Isle of Wight, by accomplices aboard a container ship.

Each waterproof bundle was fitted with a GPS tracker to help the gang locate the drugs at sea.

The two ringleaders, Daniel Jamieson, 41, of Heath Road, Ramsden Heath, Essex, and Sam Brown, 33, who lived in Liverpool during the conspiracy, were sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on 5 and 6 November.

Jamieson was jailed for 22 years after being convicted of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine, while Brown received 16 years and six months after admitting the same offence.

Investigators discovered that Jamieson had posed as a legitimate businessman and used a false name to purchase a maritime business, allowing him to obtain a rigid-hulled inflatable boat called the Amma Sigga.

The vessel was intended to recover the cocaine from the sea and transport it to the south coast.

Brown played a significant role in recruiting other members of the gang, including Harry Kennedy, 38, from Liverpool, who was jailed for nine years.

The operation encountered difficulties when an initial attempt to recover the drugs failed.

On 17 August 2024, oil rig worker David Paterson, 49, from Peterhead near Aberdeen, travelled from Haslar Marina in Portsmouth into international waters to collect the cocaine.

He was being directed by Lewis Watts, 37, from Tilbury, Essex, using WhatsApp messages.

However, the container ship carrying the drugs sailed past Paterson's vessel, and the GPS trackers attached to the cocaine failed to transmit a signal.

Paterson eventually returned to shore empty-handed.

A subsequent recovery operation involving Carl Powner, 62, from Stoke-on-Trent, and Adil Nolan, 40, from Liverpool, successfully located the drugs and brought them ashore at Medmerry Beach, where NCA officers were waiting.

Powner, who fled abroad following the operation, was arrested in Romania in May 2026 and extradited to face justice. He was jailed for 13 years.

Nolan received 11 years and three months, while Paterson and Watts were each sentenced to 14 years.

Five other members of the gang were involved in helping to move the drugs from the beach.

Roy Harmer, 46, from Bournemouth, Neil Pinchbeck, 43, from Poole, Thomas Stewart, 40, from Peterborough, and Ricky Platt, 49, from Boscombe, were each jailed for 20 months.

Charlotte Blenman, 34, from Bournemouth, received a 20-month prison sentence suspended for two years.

All five were convicted of assisting an organised crime group.

Jules Harriman, the NCA's senior investigating officer, said:

“The main players from this conspiracy are facing very long periods behind bars. Had their smuggling attempt worked, these toxic drugs would have brought misery and violence to many communities around the country.

“The crime group responsible for supplying these offenders has lost their drugs and massive profits that can no longer be ploughed back into further offending.

“Working with partners such as Border Force, the NCA will continue to do all it can to protect the public from the threat of Class A drugs.”

The investigation involved assistance from Sussex Police, Hampshire Police, Merseyside Police and West Mercia Police.

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