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Essex driver cleared by French must still wait...
Page 10
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A 61-YEAR-OLD Essex trucker who was cleared of smuggling cannabis by a French court is waiting to learn whether the prosecution will appeal against the decision.
James Sheridan, from Chingford, was accused of smuggling more than 600kg of cannabis in a load of paving stones in January 2004. He was held in prison in France for four months before being bailed, hut his case did not come to trial until February this year. The Lyon court announced its decision on 15 March.
Paul, his son and partner in the road haulage business, said last week that the family were waiting to hear whether the prosecution was going to appeal against the court's decision.
Sheridan's case was taken up by the campaigning organisation Fair Trials Abroad, which has helped many UK truck drivers it believes have been falsely imprisoned while they were working overseas.
Director Stephen Jakobi welcomes the acquittal and says: "This is an unusual result for a trucking case in France.
"Let us hope that more innocent drivers are acquitted in future,he adds.
Fair Trials Abroad adds that Sheridan has suffered financially, partly because he had to reinortgage his house to pay bail and get his truck back from the French.
Investigations into the load which had been put in Sheridan's truck revealed that the delivery address in Essex was a genuine one. However, the name of the person giving instructions to the transport company, the contact in the Spanish warehouse and the consignees named on the pallets were all found to be fake.
• Fair Trials Abroad is also currently fighting for the release of Dutch driver Willem van den Berg, who it says has been mistakenly convicted of smuggling 220kg of cannabis into France.