Latest news with #Charrington
Sunday World
6 days ago
- Sunday World
Notorious British drug trafficker Brian Charrington dies on Costa Blanca
The 68-year-old was waiting to hear whether he had to start a prison sentence in Spain over a 2013 cocaine seizure A notorious British drug trafficker with his own Wikipedia page has died on the Costa Blanca. Brian Charrington, an ex-associate of former international cocaine baron Curtis Warren, passed away in the early hours of yesterday morning at Marina Baixa Hospital in Villajoyosa near Benidorm. The 68-year-old was waiting to hear whether he had to start a prison sentence in Spain over a 2013 cocaine seizure. His defence lawyer had requested the suspension of the eight year jail term on health grounds. Charrington started out as a car dealer in Middlesborough but went on to own a Rolls Royce, Bentley, private jet and fleet of yachts thanks to his international drugs empire. In 2011 his fortune was put at £20 million. In the eighties he teamed up with Curtis Warren, whose personal fortune was so large he appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List, to import cocaine to the UK from Venezuela. The pair were arrested in early 1992 after a shipment of more than 900 kilos of cocaine sealed inside lead ingots in steel boxes was discovered. The subsequent trial collapsed after it transpired Charrington was a police informant for the North-East Regional Crime Squad. Britain's security forces went on to re-home him in Australia but his visa was revoked shortly after his arrival. He went on to build up links with north African drug dealers after relocating to Spain and laundered millions of pounds from a fortified villa on Spain's Costa Blanca which he used to bring hashish from Morocco across the border. He was acquitted in two drugs trials in the UK before being extradited to Germany and sentenced to seven years jail in 2003 for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the country. Charrington was extradited to France following his release in 2006 to serve a two year prison term over the discovery of 650 kilos of hashish found on his yacht in the English channel in 1995. In 2004 he lost a civil suit against the Assets Recovery Agency over more than £2 million found in his loft which he and Curtis Warren disputed the ownership of. The civil recovery order against him and Warren was described at the time as the largest of its kind. Spanish police described Charrington after his 2013 arrest in Spain as "one of the ten most investigated criminals" by European police forces and "leader of an international gang of drug smugglers." Spanish police held Charrington in 2013 along with a number of other people including his French girlfriend Isabelle Robert and son Ray after a long-running investigation sparked by a tip-off from French police that he and Robert were smuggling cocaine into Europe from Venezuela. Their luxury villas in Calpe near Benidorm on the Costa Blanca were among a number of homes raided by police on July 4 2013. Brian Charrington News in 90 Seconds - July 23rd In a subsequent indictment in which prosecutors initially demanded an 18-year prison sentence for Charrington, they claimed he tried to erase information he had chalked on a blackboard in his office about amounts of cocaine and sale prices during the raid on his home. Police revealed at the time of the operation they had seized 220 kilos of cocaine worth £10 million at another apartment in Albir near Benidorm, said to have been smuggled into Spain through the nearby port of Altea. Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), Venezuelan police and a regional 18-member-state police organisation called Ameripol set up to fight drug trafficking, were also involved. Drug lord Charrington's original 2018 trial and conviction following the 2013 drug bust was quashed by Spain's Supreme Court over impartiality issues and a second trial had to be held. That resulted in an eight year five month prison sentence for the Brit criminal which his lawyers were trying to get him exempted from serving because of his poor health. The Spanish courts had yet to rule on Charrington's lawyer's request when he passed away. One of Brian's three grown-up children wrote on social media late last night: 'Rest in peace Dad.' The Brit criminal is understood to have been admitted to hospital shortly before his death.
Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Notorious Brit 'Wikipedia Narco' dies in Spain as family remembers 'crazy b***tard'
Brian Charrington, the infamous 'Teflon Don', was also known as the 'Wikipedia Narco' in Spain as he updated and corrected his own listing on the online encyclopedia A notorious British drug baron nicknamed "Teflon Don" because of his ability to evade justice has died in Spain. Brian Charrington was also known as the "Wikipedia Narco" in Spain as he updated and corrected his own online behind bars. He died in hospital in Spain after suffering a heart attack. He also had a lung condition possibly linked to his exposure to asbestos early in his working life, his family said today. His villa in Calpe, near Benidorm, was raided by police in 2013. He bought a Rolls-Royce, Bentley and a fleet of yachts from the proceeds of his crime. In 2011 his fortune was estimated at £20m. But he had spent many years behind bars, and at the time of his death he was waiting to see if he would have to serve time on a historic case, according to sources on his native Teesside. His son, also called Brian, announced his father's death in a Facebook post which received hundreds of messages of condolence. His dad, a former car dealer from Middlesbrough, worked with Colombia's most fearsome drug networks and UK gangsters including Curtis Warren. He had been sentenced to 15 years behind bars in 2018, but that was later reduced on appeal. His life story was straight out of a Netflix series. It involved huge quantities of cocaine, cash and court cases that once earned him the nickname "Teflon Don" because of his ability to escape prosecution. Brian had three children, Brian Junior, 48, Danny, 44, and Ray, 38. Brian Jnr told the Mirror: "He was a crazy b***tard. I cannot think of anything else to say really. He was just crazy." His role as a police informer was revealed at a trial in the 1990s which resulted in the collapse of the case against him. But Brian jnr added: "Those who knew him, knew that he was not really an informer. He never hid where he lived - he would not have been there if he had been an informer. "He had inside information at times, but he did not give information to the police." He lived for years in Spain, where he apparently kept crocodiles in his swimming pool. He was found guilty of a plot to import nearly 200 kilos of cocaine into Spain from South America in 2018. He was ordered by the court to pay more than £27m - 31 million euros - in fines. Spanish media referred to Charrington as "el narco de la Wikipedia" as he updated his own Wikipedia page with detailed information about his international criminal career. When Charrington was arrested in 2013, Spanish police said he was one of Europe's 10 most-wanted criminals. He was also thought to be one of Britain's richest. Customs officers suspected Charrington was flying to South America with Curtis Warren in the early 1990s. They met senior representatives of Colombia's Cali Cartel, a feared cocaine export operation featured in the 'Narcos' Netflix TV series. Charrington was arrested as his private plane touched down at Teesside in June 1992. When police raided his home in Nunthorpe they found 12 holdalls in his loft containing £1.7m in cash with traces of drugs. Charrington and Warren were both charged with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and set for a trial at Newcastle Crown Court in 1993. The case against the two men collapsed due to Charrington's role as a police informer. Warren, who walked free from court, is famously rumoured to have taunted a customs officer with the words: "Now I'm off to spend my £85m share and there's nothing you can do about it." He later denied he had said those words, but the boast added to his reputation for being 'cocky'.
