HEADLINE NEWS

Wednesday 9 April 2008

Mark Cadogan . bought a high-performance BMW M3 for £50,000, a luxury Aston Martin for £130,000 and two Audi convertibles for more than £100,000


Mark Cadogan, described as the ringleader of a major Newcastle cannabis distribution network, was jailed for 10 years at Newcastle Crown Court.
admitted charges of conspiracy to supply the Class C drug and money laundering.
Jailing him Judge Beatrice Bolton said: "You have been described as a Mr Big - a big time dealer of cannabis."You made a considerable amount of money out of it and employed others to do your dirty work, while living a lavish lifestyle as a result."
The court was told Cadogan and his partner Melanie McElderry, 29, spent around £350,000 in cash during the three years of their conspiracy.
Between 2003 and 2007 they bought a high-performance BMW M3 for £50,000, a luxury Aston Martin for £130,000 and two Audi convertibles for more than £100,000.
They also enjoyed 24 trips to Spain in just 19 months, a trip to the FIFA World Cup in 2006 and a holiday to the luxury Gleneagles hotel in Scotland.
They invested the drugs money into a string of properties in the north east, including homes in Newcastle and North Shields, as well as investing in business and property ventures in the East European country of Armenia, in an attempt to launder the cash.Christopher Knox, prosecuting, said: "Had it not been for this defendant's arrest, and the seizure of his assets, he would have been a very rich man.
"He was not a man with his hands actually on the drugs which he conspired to supply.
"He got others to do that."On one occasion police officers seized a lorry with over a tonne of cannabis hidden in a batch of tiles, destined to be distributed into Cadogan's underground network.Cadogan boasted he could afford to lose more than a million pounds in bad debts and police seizures, as he "hadplenty", said Mr Knox.
"Clearly, this loss did not have such a devastating effect on his business, as he could still afford to buy an Aston Martin for £130,000 a few days later," said Mr Knox.Jonathan Goldberg QC, defending Cadogan, said his lavish lifestyle led to his downfall."He was perhaps a prisoner of his own success," he said."Short of placing a neon sign above his head in the city of Newcastle and saying 'I'm a flash drug dealer', one wonders how much else he could have done to alert the police to what he was up to."This may be the top of division two, but the first division players would not be very impressed with him."Cadogan made a total of £1.351,008 from his drug dealing. He must forfeit his realisable assets of £923,757 to the police's asset recovery team.He will also be banned from travelling abroad for eight years from his release from custody.

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