Tobacco case goes up in smoke
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Blackburn international hailer Stuart Taylor, his transport manager and two of his drivers have walked free from Manchester Crown Court after being cleared of smuggling cigarettes into the UK with an estimated cost to the Exchequer of £2,408,000.
Taylor, from Balderstone; transport manager Nicholas Harris, from RIshtor; and dri
vers Sean Bunkell, from Lytham St Annes and Darren Pollard, from Rishton had pleaded not guilty to conspiring together and with Stephen Wynn and Francis Beckett to evade duty on cigarettes between October 1997 and March 1998.
In January of last year the initial trial of the four men collapsed and a retrial was ordered following the closing speech of
prosecutor Christopher Cornwall QC in which he made references which were held to be prejudicial to the trial (CM 27 January-2 February and 10-16 February 2000).
The dramatic end to the case came on the first day of the retrial when Cornwall told Judge David Owen that the Crown would not be proceeding with the case.