Three men have been sentenced to a total of 85 years in jail after their conviction in connection with the largest drugs seizure in the history of the State.
Perry Wharrie, Martin Wanden and Joe Daly, who are all from England, were convicted yesterday of possessing at least €440m worth of cocaine off the west Cork coast on 2 July 2007.
This afternoon Wharrie and Wanden were each sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. Daly was given a 25-year jail term.
The court heard Wharrie, 48, from Kent, was jailed for life in 1989 for the murder of an off-duty police officer.
He was released on licence in 2005 but failed to adhere to the condition of his probation and is now wanted by British authorities who have issued a European arrest warrant for him.
That matter is before the High Court, pending the outcome of his drugs trial, the court was told.
Wharrie's defence counsel Tim O'Leary pointed out that while his client was convicted of murder, he was not the person that committed the murder, but was involved in a joint enterprise.
The court also heard that Wanden, 45, of no fixed abode has a number of previous convictions, including a conviction in France in 2003 for drug smuggling for which he was jailed for two years in his absence.
Daly, 41, also from Kent, has a number of convictions for minor offences.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said all three were committed and dedicated to 'this criminal act.'
He said there was no evidence that any of them suffered from any addiction and that they were prepared to deal in death and destruction for money
Unanimous verdicts
On day 42 of the trial yesterday, after deliberating for over seven hours, the nine men and two women of the jury unanimously found all three guilty on all charges.
Superintendent John Healy told the court that the investigation into the drug seizure in Dunlough Bay was unprecedented in terms of nature and size, involving at least 450 gardaí in the first couple of days.
He said the three accused were operating on behalf of organised crime groups, based in the UK and Spain.
They had the task of movement and storage of drugs into the Irish jurisdiction but the drugs were not destined for the Irish market, Supt Healy said.
The men were involved in what was described as a major logistical operation to bring 1.5 tonnes of drugs ashore.
But the operation went badly wrong and their boat capsized, sending 62 bales of cocaine into the water.
