17/03/2008 00:00:00
UK: Drugs trio win appeal
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MEMBERS of a Vietnamese gang who transformed Teesside houses into
cannabis farms have had their jail terms cut on appeal.
The five gang members were originally jailed for a total of 21 and a
half years after Teesside Crown Court heard how hundreds of cannabis
plants were grown in seven properties.
The seven rented homes in Middlesbrough were converted at a cost of
£65,000 and the plants would have had a street value of £66,500.
The five admitted conspiring to grow cannabis November 2006 and June 2007.
Three of the gang members have now had their sentences reduced at
London’s Criminal Appeal Court after lawyers argued their roles were not
as serious as had been made out.
Hoa Thai Nguyen, 23, of no fixed abode, had his three year sentence cut
to two by Mr Justice Penry-Davey, sitting with Judge David Radford.
The Appeal Court heard Hoa Nguyen had been enlisted in the operation as
a gardener, which was described by his legal team as a “menial role”.
The judge said he should have been given more credit for his guilty plea.
Chi Hung, 22, (aka Duong Dai Vuong) of Parliament Road, had been jailed
for five years. He was described as a “manager” in the operation -
ensuring rent was paid on one of the properties, and the court hears he
had no involvement in the plants or their distribution.
The judge reduced his sentence to four years, saying he fell “to be
treated as a man of good character” and that his sentence was too high.
Mai Xuan Phan, of Carlbury Court, Acklam, had been sent to jail for
seven years. Lawyers said she organised the rent for the four
properties, also acting as a “manager.”
The judge said Phan had claimed she was sent to Teesside from London by
her boyfriend and he had given her money to pay the rent on the
properties. He said she did not benefit financially from the operation,
but she had played a “major part.”
He added: “It is clear that the involvment of Mai Phan extended to a
number of addresses.”
But he said her sentence was also “too high” and cut it to five years
and six months.
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2008/03/17/drugs-trio-win-appeal-84229-20635691/
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=13343
Author:
Evening Gazette via UKCIA
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