UK - Drug haul man loses Ghana appeal

[Junkhead23]

A man serving 20 years in a Ghanaian jail for plotting to smuggle half a tonne of cocaine has lost his final appeal against conviction and sentence.

Alan Hodgson, 47, originally from Carway, Carmarthenshire, had the appeal dismissed by Ghana's supreme court.
In 2004, and five other men, two of whom were later acquitted, were found guilty of smuggling 588 kilos (1,296 lb) of cocaine into the country.
The supreme court upheld the decision of both the trial and appeal courts.
He was jailed in October 2004 with Kevin Gorman, an American, Mohammed Ibrahim Kamil, a Ghanaian, John David Logan, Frank Laverick, a Briton, and German Sven Herb for conspiracy and possession of cocaine.
The judges said they decided the evidence against Hodgson was "enormous".
However, Laverick and Logan were later acquitted on appeal.



Prosecution evidence
The original trial heard that bales and parcels of cocaine were concealed in a specially constructed hole in a wall behind a large dressing mirror in Gorman's house at Tema Community 10.
The Narcotics Control Board (NACOB and the Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) of the police service raided the house and found the bales and parcels.
The prosecution said Hodgson who was living in the house with Gorman, Logan and Laverick was confronted with the substance.
In its ruling the supreme court held that the decisions of both the trial court and the appeal court could not be interfered with since the evidence by the prosecution linking Hodgson to the case was "very enormous".
This was despite the fact Hodgson was in the house as a visitor and also arrived in the country three thee days before the drug was taken to Tema.
The court said Hodgson's visit was not coincidental but was to accomplish a criminal offence.



Source - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8161039.stm