How jury refused to believe witness called... Pinocchio
A HUSBAND and wife were yesterday cleared of involvement in a £7million cocaine empire and money laundering operation after a jury rejected the evidence of an informer.
Graham Clarke, 36, and his former police officer wife Lindsay, 32, walked free from the High Court in Glasgow after a five-month trial.
Also cleared was car dealer Neil Anderson, 40, accused of being Clarke’s business partner in the supply of cocaine.
It had been claimed the trio were involved in a major drugs empire after convicted dealer David Hunter, who the court heard was known as Pinocchio, turned police informer.
But a jury did not believe his claims he was making £15,000 a fortnight selling cocaine for Mr Clarke, of Larkhall, Lanarkshire, and Anderson, of Cumbernauld, finding the case against them not proven.
All charges except one against Mrs Clarke were found not proven while her mother, retired teacher Marilyn Nixon, 65, of Darvel, Ayrshire, was found not guilty of laundering money. Mrs Clarke was found guilty of mortgage fraud and will be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh next month. Prosecutors will now move to seize assets from her.
It was claimed the Clarkes lived the high life with no legitimate income to back it up. Prosecutors alleged criminal money was used to set up the couple’s soft play business, Rainforest, in Motherwell.
The court was told Mr Clarke did not file any tax returns from 2006 to 2012 and his wife said she earned £10,372.08 in 2006 and £376.03 in 2007, then did not submit any returns for the next four years. But in court Mr Clarke revealed they had recently paid £931,000 to HMRC, adding: ‘I have had nothing to do with cocaine dealing or money laundering.
‘The only thing I did was not pay my taxes.’
Judge Lady Wise told jurors the case hinged on whether they believed twice-convicted drug dealer Hunter. She said if they didn’t believe him then the case against the four accused could not be proved.
Outside court, Mr Clarke said: ‘I’m delighted. The jury accepted that David Hunter is a liar. This has been a nightmare for my family.’
Anderson said the police had taken ‘the word of a twice-convicted drug dealer over people who have never been involved in criminality’.
Hunter turned informer after being caught in May 2010 at a cocaine factory in East Kilbride and jailed for six years and five months.
After becoming an informer, his sentence was reduced to 30 months and he only repaid £145.45 of the £165,000 the Crown had tried to seize under the Proceeds of Crime Act. He was also given a new identity. But in court it emerged Hunter was a compulsive liar.
Although willing to implicate Mr Clarke and Mr Anderson, he said he was unable to remember the name of his previous cocaine supplier.
Hunter claimed an accident had left him unable to recall certain details but never provided any medical evidence.
Hunter told police Anderson and Mr Clarke recruited him when he was at a low ebb in 2008 after his mother’s death.
He claimed Anderson gave him a bag containing £10,000 in £20 notes to pay for her funeral, though it was actually paid for by Hunter’s family.
The informer told police he had been jailed for 26 months for selling Ecstasy, but failed to tell them he had been selling cocaine for five years before claiming to have been recruited by Clarke and Anderson.
Police launched an undercover operation which saw them follow and bug the Clarkes and Anderson. Their homes and businesses were also searched.
A file which appeared to be a ‘tick list’ was found on Mr Clarke’s computer. But Mr Clarke said the computer had been used by his brother Alan, who the court heard had been involved in the drugs scene and had died of an overdose.
‘A nightmare for my family’