TV gangster jailed in real life drug ring
AN ACTOR who played gangsters in films and TV crime shows was jailed for eight years for running one of Britain’s biggest cannabis factories.
Desmond Bayliss, 41, was the head of a giant drugs enterprise in which 800 cannabis plants were grown on a farm in barns the size of two football pitches.
The hardman – who starred as a crimelord opposite Ray Winstone in an ITV1 cop drama – was a key figure in the real life “organised crime” operation.
He was one of 13 men charged after the farm was raided following a five month police investigation. Detectives uncovered a complex set-up in huge barns at the farm in Castle Bytham near Grantham, Lincs with a potential annual cannabis yield from 800 plants worth around £2.75 million.
At Stafford Crown Court, Bayliss, from Toxteth in Liverpool, was convicted of conspiracy to supply and produce cannabis and will now face a proceeds of crime hearing.