Tobacco trial collapses
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The trial of Blackburn international haulier Stuart Taylor, his transport manager and two of his drivers on smuggling charges dramatically collapsed at Manchester Crown Court this week.
Taylor, of Balderstone, who trades as Stuart Taylor International; his transport manager Nicholas Harris, of Rishton; and drivers Sean Bunkell. of Lytham St Anne's, and Darren Pollard, of Nelson, had all pleaded not guilty to conspiring together and with Stephen Wynn and Francis Beckett to evade duty on cigarettes between October 1997 and March 1998, estimated to total £2.408.000.
Following the closing speech of prosecutor Christopher Cornwall QC, in which he made a reference deemed prejudicial to the trial, Judge Anthony Hammond ordered the jury discharged and a retrial.
The jury had heard that in March 1998 vehicles driven by Bunke!! and Pollard were stopped at Portsmouth where Customs officers found 6.4 million cigarettes hidden behind loads of oranges.
Investigations revealed that it was the last in a sequence of five contraband trips starting in October 1997, bringing nearly 24 million cigarettes into this country. The prosecution maintained that Wynn and Beckett, who ran a
small parcels delivery service from Kirkby, agreed with Taylor and Harris to arrange for the cigarettes to be imported from Spain. Taylor
and Harris allegedly instructed Bunkell and Pollard to pick up legitimate loads in Spain, together with unlawful loads of cigarettes.
Taylor told the jury that he had no reason to be suspicious when he agreed to bring goods from Spain into the UK for Wynn, and there was never any suggestion the two men intended to illegally import cigarettes.
It is understood that a fresh trial cannot be arranged before November. All the defendants have been bailed.