Illegal tobacco factory chiefs jailed for fraud

THE MASTERMINDS behind a £10m fraud have been jailed after they were caught running the UK’s largest illegal tobacco factory, which could produce 140 packets of cigarettes a minute.

John Watson Snr, 47, who was a director of Doncaster Greyhound stadium, Terence Jacques, 60, of Bishop Auckland, and security guard Russell Haywood, 48, from Barnsley, led a 12-man gang that made millions of counterfeit cigarettes which were distributed across the North of England, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) carried out co-ordinated raids at properties linked to the gang in County Durham and South Yorkshire in November 2015.

Officers discovered the largest tobacco factory ever encountered by HMRC inside a farm unit in Crook, County Durham.

The factory had more than 24 tonnes of tobacco inside, along with 500,000 cigarettes, old imperial tobacco machinery and products used to make the cigarettes. Officers also discovered caravans that were being used by the factory workforce.

The cigarettes produced at the factory were moved to a nearby garden centre, before being distributed to locations in the North East and South Yorkshire.

Watson Snr said he earned less than £15,000 a year at the time, but investigators discovered he had spent more than £180,000 on luxury cars and a holiday.

Watson Snr, of Ellison Street, Thorne, was found guilty of excise fraud and sentenced to five years and three months in prison. Haywood, of Intake Gardens, Barnsley, admitted excise fraud and was sent to prison for four years and three months.

Jaques, of Howlea Lane, Bishop Auckland, was sentenced to five years in jail after he was found guilty of excise fraud.