Sentence bid fails
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ri A Sheffield man who set up an unregistered haulage business as a front for drug-smuggling has failed in a bid to cut his nine-year jail term.
Burley-based Phillip James was caught as he tried to smuggle more than 591kg of cannabis resin with a street value of £2m into the UK from Spain.
James was convicted at Canterbury rirown Court earlier this year of drug imuggling after pleading not guilty. He was sentenced to nine years.
Three Appeal Court judges rejected Arguments that the sentence was "manifestly excessive" and that the trial judge had failed to make an adequate distinction between James and a co-accused.
The court heard how, under the guise of legitimate business, James and another man drove a truck to Alicante in November 1999 before moving on to Barcelona where they loaded massive quantities of drugs onto the vehicle.
Justice Grigson concluded: "In our new the judge, having heard the evifence, was perfectly entitled to make hat judgement."