Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police
Headline: Four members of the same family sentenced for drugs offences
Four members of the same family have been sentenced for drug and money laundering offences.
The sentences follow an investigation that was launched after officers from the National Crime Agency based at Heathrow airport intercepted two separate packages in December 2015 and April 2016 containing herbal cannabis destined for the family’s address at Lansbury Avenue, Romford, Havering.
The four appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday, 9 February where they had formerly pleaded guilty on a previous date. They were sentenced as follows:
Sean Jackson, 51, (30.04.1966), was sentenced to a total of six years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to supply Class A and Class B drugs and money laundering.
Lea Jackson, 47, (7.02.1971), was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment suspended for two years for conspiracy to conceal, disguise, convert, and transfer or money laundering.
Levi Smith, 20, (28.02.1997), was sentenced to 16 months’ detention suspended for two years together with 100 hours of unpaid work for conspiracy to supply Class A and Class B drugs and money laundering.
Tre Smith, 18 (22.08.1999), was sentenced to six months’ detention suspended for two years for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.
The court heard how officers from the National Crime Agency passed the packages on to colleagues from the Met’s East Area Command Unit, where an investigation was subsequently launched.
On 6 May 2016, officers from Whalebone neighbourhood policing team executed a warrant at the address in Lansbury Avenue, Romford.
Inside the address officers discovered a large amount of Class A and Class B drugs and drug-related paraphernalia.
All four defendants were present at the time of warrant and were subsequently arrested. They were initially bailed and then afterwards released under investigation when the new Bail Act was introduced. They were then charged in April 2017.
During the course of the investigation, it was found that approximately £133,620.84 had been sent in more than 80 transactions to the United States [US] using the MoneyGram payment platform; it is suspected that the cash was used to buy drugs packages from criminal organisations that were sent to the family.
Officers informed the Drug Enforcement Agency [DEA] in the US and made them aware of the addresses in America to which the money had been sent.
Detective Constable Billy Baxter, of the East Area Command Unit, who led the investigation, said: “It is rare to see several members of the same family sentenced for serious drug offences; a crime which blights communities across London.”