Jailed, TV appeal tourist who turned to dealing in drugs
HIS appeal featured on national TV, with him lying in a hospital bed holding up a ‘thank you’ sign to all those who raised money to get him home after he fell ill in Thailand.
But now, Gareth Harnett has been sentenced to three years in jail – after he was caught in a £250,000 drugs bust months after the fundraising drive.
The 32 year-old made the news after suffering a heart attack on holiday in Thailand in 2013.
He had set off without travel insurance and had no way of getting treatment or travelling home safely – until friends, family and even strangers came to his aid by raising around £7,500.
Harnett’s plight featured on ITV’s breakfast show Daybreak.
A photo on his Facebook page showed him lying in his hospital bed clutching a message saying ‘thank you’ to well-wishers.
But soon after recovering and returning to the UK, Harnett – who was living in Kent, at the time – turned to crime. Yesterday he was sentenced to three years behind bars at the High Court in Glasgow after he admitted being concerned i n the supply of cannabis.
Harnett and 45 year- old John O’Donnell were spotted together in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, on June 14, 2013, after police got a tip off about a drug deal.
The pair swapped vans before O’Donnell was tailed to an industrial estate in the town. He collected several large bags from a unit there and then returned to meet Harnett, where they were spotted shaking hands.
Harnett then drove off in the van containing the bags and headed south on the M74 motorway towards Carlisle.
He was stopped and police immediately detected a ‘ very strong smell of cannabis’ from inside the vehicle.
Prosecutor David Nicolson said officers seized 60 ‘heat sealed’ packages from inside the bags, all containing the class-B drug.
The court heard that the haul had a potential street value of £257,100.
Harnett’s counsel, Louise Arrol, told how her client had returned from Thailand with ‘significant debts’ as the result of personal problems.
Carpet store manager O’Donnell, of Clydebank, was also yesterday locked up for three years after he admitted the same charge.
The fundraising drive for Harnett, now of Ramsgate, Kent, was launched after he fell ill in January 2013.
He collapsed after suffering a heart attack in Phuket, Thailand, and went on to ‘die’ twice before being revived.
He needed an urgent transfer to a private hospital after local medical staff warned that the health centre to which he had been taken – and had stray dogs walking around the wards – would not give him a good chance of high- quality treatment. However, Harnett had no travel insurance, meaning he could not afford to move.
The appeal to get him vital treatment sparked nationwide media i nterest as friends and relatives rallied to raise cash.
After getting life - saving help, he said: ‘I am lucky to be alive. I am told I flatlined twice after the heart attack.
‘I owe everything to my mates who were with me who put up thousands of pounds initially to get me into a well-equipped hospital where I stood a chance.
‘People back home then started donating and raising money straight away to keep the fund going. I cannot thank them enough.’
At the end of last year, Harnett was jailed for more than five years for his involvement in a £5million cocaine haul.
Nine people were jailed for a total of almost 89 years at Luton Crown Court in December.
They were arrested between May and October in 2013 following a 12month operation by detectives.