Dealer gets 21 years in prison for complicity in drug conspiracy

McHarrie was also linked to £600,000 of criminal money

A drug dealer has been sentenced to 21 years and nine months for his involvement in the importation of cocaine and cannabis into the Isle of Man and laundering £600,000 of drugs money.

Leroy McHarrie, 25, was the last of six men to be jailed for smuggling £78,000 worth of cannabis and almost £100,000 worth of cocaine onto the island in a trunk in June 2022.

Douglas Courthouse heard that McHarrie was linked to £623,501 of criminal money paid into 17 bank accounts linked to him or companies he beneficially owned between January 2020 and May 2023.

James Spotswood and Matthew Woods were previously sentenced to fifteen and eighteen years in prison respectively for their roles in the car plot.

McHarrie was found guilty of cocaine importation concerns and cannabis importation concerns after a trial in July.

The court heard McHarrie had pleaded guilty to separate charges of importing cannabis and cocaine after being linked to two parcels sent from Britain to the Isle of Man, and to 16 charges of money laundering.

In September 2022, a parcel containing £19,380 worth of cannabis that was intercepted at the postal sorting office was found to have his fingerprints on the packaging.

The court was told this was followed by a second package intercepted in October the same year, containing £15,900 worth of cocaine, which he was found to have posted.

Douglas Courthouse heard the 25-year-old involved three other people in the money laundering scheme, who were also convicted at Friday’s hearing.

The court heard that 27-year-old Mohammed Hoosen had transferred £190,356 in ‘unexplained deposits’ into five bank accounts over a two-year period between May 2021 and June 2023, which were then transferred to accounts controlled by McHarrie or through his companies .

Records showed that Mark Lucas, 37, had used two bank accounts to transfer £293,653 to other accounts or companies between December 2021 and July 2023.

And Debbie Kidger-Preston, 48, transferred £250,999 to the accounts between January 2022 and July 2023.

Hoosen was jailed for 20 months, Lucas was jailed for 22 months and Debbie Kidger-Preston was jailed for 20 months, suspended for two years.

Deemster Graeme Cook described each of the trio as a “money mule”.

In all “criminal enterprises,” the main perpetrators “need people who are willing to risk capture and the resulting penalties” and there must be “some form of deterrence.”

After the hearing, Detective Inspector Jamie Tomlinson said the case illustrated that the work carried out at the ports “made it even more difficult for criminals to bring their illicit goods to our island”.

He said the message to those involved in illegal drug activity on the island or sending drugs from Britain “can expect significant custodial sentences here on the island as this case shows”.