British drug king pin once in the 'top 10 criminals in Europe' dies in Costa Del Sol with Spanish courts still considering whether to send him to jail
Brian Charrington, an ex-associate of former international cocaine baron Curtis Warren, passed away in the early hours of yesterday morning at Marina Baixa Hospital in Villajoyosa near Benidorm.
The 68-year-old was waiting to hear whether he had to start a prison sentence in Spain over a 2013 cocaine seizure.
His defence lawyer had requested the suspension of the eight-year jail term on health grounds.
Charrington started out as a car dealer in Middlesbrough but went on to own a Rolls-Royce, Bentley, private jet and fleet of yachts thanks to his international drugs empire.
In 2011, his fortune was put at £20 million.
In the eighties, he teamed up with Curtis Warren, whose personal fortune was so large he appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List, to import cocaine to the UK from Venezuela.
The pair were arrested in early 1992 after a shipment of more than 900 kilos of cocaine sealed inside lead ingots in steel boxes was discovered.
The subsequent trial collapsed after it transpired that Charrington was a police informant for the North-East Regional Crime Squad.
Britain's security forces went on to re-home him in Australia but his visa was revoked shortly after his arrival.
He went on to build up links with North African drug dealers after relocating to Spain and laundered millions of pounds from a fortified villa on Spain's Costa Blanca which he used to bring hashish from Morocco across the border.
He was acquitted in two drugs trials in the UK before being extradited to Germany and sentenced to seven years' jail in 2003 for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the country.
Charrington was extradited to France following his release in 2006 to serve a two-year prison term over the discovery of 650 kilos of hashish found on his yacht in the English Channel in 1995.
In 2004 he lost a civil suit against the Assets Recovery Agency over more than £2 million found in his loft, which he and Curtis Warren disputed the ownership of.
The civil recovery order against him and Warren was described at the time as the largest of its kind.
Spanish police described Charrington after his 2013 arrest in Spain as 'one of the ten most investigated criminals' by European police forces and 'leader of an international gang of drug smugglers.'
Spanish police held Charrington in 2013 along with a number of other people, including his French girlfriend Isabelle Robert and son Ray, after a long-running investigation sparked by a tip-off from French police that he and Robert were smuggling cocaine into Europe from Venezuela.
Their luxury villas in Calpe near Benidorm on the Costa Blanca were among a number of homes raided by police on July 4 2013.
In a subsequent indictment in which prosecutors initially demanded an 18-year prison sentence for Charrington, they claimed he tried to erase information he had chalked on a blackboard in his office about amounts of cocaine and sale prices during the raid on his home.
Police revealed at the time of the operation they had seized 220 kilos of cocaine worth £10 million at another apartment in Albir near Benidorm, said to have been smuggled into Spain through the nearby port of Altea.
Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), Venezuelan police and a regional 18-member-state police organisation called Ameripol set up to fight drug trafficking, were also involved.
Drug lord Charrington's original 2018 trial and conviction following the 2013 drug bust were quashed by Spain's Supreme Court over impartiality issues, and a second trial had to be held.
That resulted in an eight-year five five-month prison sentence for the Brit criminal, which his lawyers were trying to get him exempted from serving because of his poor health.
The Spanish courts had yet to rule on Charrington's lawyer's request when he passed away.
One of Brian's three grown-up children wrote on social media late last night: 'Rest in peace Dad.'
The Brit criminal is understood to have been admitted to hospital shortly before his death.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
37 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
MSNBC panel explodes with fury after Donald Trump is asked question about golf by journalists during Scotland trip
An MSNBC panel exploded with rage after Donald Trump was asked about golf in Scotland, with the network's stars demanding more questions on Jeffrey Epstein. Ali Velshi was joined by columnist Jen Rubin and Bloomberg opinion editor Tim O'Brien to discuss president Trump's press conference in Scotland alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. An exasperated Velshi called the presser at Trump's Turnberry golf resort 'bat poop crazy.' 'I'm not going to say any more words until my executive producer puts on the banner next to me, "that was bat poop crazy."' Just not gonna. That was crazy,' Velshi began. 'Somebody asked him about his mood, somebody asked him about golfing, it's like, why?' the MSNBC host went on. 'I'm sorry for journalism. I apologize for journalism, for some of the questions that were going on,' Velshi added. Rubin then weighed in, calling the presser 'appalling,' adding it was 'extremely unfortunate that no one in that room asked [Trump] about the hugely corrupt, grotesque cover-up of a convicted sex offender and her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and Jeffrey Epstein's files that he refuses to release.' 'It's unfortunate that in those kind of scrums he's not challenged in the room,' Rubin continued. 'So what those reporters are doing in that rooms, I do not know... It was a very bad showing from the [press].' 'He was not challenged by anybody,' Velshi conceded. Despite the MSNBC panel's anger at the press, Trump was actually asked about Epstein later on Sunday - the president flashed his anger when a reporter asked if turmoil over the Epstein story had contributed to the rush to get the deal done. 'Oh, you've got to be kidding. No – had nothing to do with it. Only you would make that. That had nothing to do with it,' Trump responded. During his campaign file, Trump vowed to release all records from federal investigations into the late pedophile financier - his former friend. The president now stands accused of slow-walking or even blocking attempts to do so and was accused by The Wall Street Journal of sending Epstein a 'bawdy' drawing of a naked woman to mark Epstein's 50th birthday. Trump denies that claim and is suing the Journal for $10 billion. Trump and von der Leyen spoke to the press from the president's golf resort at Turnberry, where he later announced he had reached a 'very powerful' trade deal with the European Union that would lower barriers to US exports and bring new European investments. The president said European Union countries would purchase $750 billion of energy from the U.S., and provide an additional $600 billion in US investments. It came after Trump inveighed against 'one-sided' trade with Europe as he sat down with the EU Commission president, while raging against windmills and saying there were prospects for reaching a deal imminently. Velshi said Trump was rambling, telling the panel: 'This was rambly to the degree that if anybody — including Joe Biden — anybody held a press conference like this anywhere in the world, they'd be under pressure to resign within an hour because there's a cognitive issue going on.' The private sit-down between Trump and the EU boss culminated months of bargaining, with the White House deadline Friday nearing for imposing punishing tariffs on the EU's 27 member countries. 'It was a very interesting negotiation. I think it's going to be great for both parties,' Trump said. The agreement, he said, was 'a good deal for everybody' and 'a giant deal with lots of countries.' Von der Leyen said the deal 'will bring stability, it will bring predictability, that's very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.'
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
‘Cowardly' knife killer who fled to Greece jailed for life
A 'cowardly' killer who smirked as his victim's mother told a court of her heartbreak over her son's murder has been jailed for life. Thomas Dures, 21, fled to Greece after stabbing Matthew Daulby, 19, with a lock knife, outside a bar in Ormskirk, Lancashire. Mr Daulby, from Liverpool, died at Aintree Hospital, shortly after the attack on July 29 2023. It meant his family had to endure two murder trials after an accomplice, Henry Houghton was convicted for the murder last year, before Dures eventually handed himself in to police in Athens and was convicted last week. But as Angela Daulby gave a moving victim impact statement at Preston Crown Court on Monday, Judge Robert Altham watched her son's killer misbehave. Jailing him for a mandatory life sentence for murder with a minimum of 23 years before parole, Judge Altham said Dures's 'cowardly' actions had resulted in his victim's parents enduring the two murder trials. He continued: 'You have never shown the slightest remorse. You smirked and shook your head as his mother read her statement. 'Having murdered Matthew Daulby you now seek to heap further misery on his family.' Earlier Mrs Daulby told the court her son, who she described as 'loving and caring', had a happy, contented life and was looking forward to his first holiday in Ibiza. After a family meal he had gone out with his girlfriend and friends for a Friday night out in Ormskirk. But she and her husband Gary Daulby were then called to Aintree Hospital. 'No parent should hear those words, 'We did everything we could',' Mrs Daulby said. 'No parent should have to bury their child, it leaves you with pain I can't even explain. 'What I would give to hear his voice again and have one more cuddle. You broke my heart. You have given us a life sentence of grief.' Mr Daulby said in his statement he was 'haunted' by the memory of his son's final moments and felt 'crushed' by the emotional toll of losing him. Dures, from Aughton, Lancashire, along with Houghton lurked in an alleyway before charging Matthew Daulby and his friends from behind. Houghton struck Mr Daulby with a cosh, a tied up sock containing a rock, before Dures, armed with a lock knife, plunged the blade into his victim's chest up to the hilt. He discarded the weapon and his bloody clothes, took a selfie of him smoking a cannabis joint and fled the UK the next day. Dures was also found guilty of wounding with intent to another man, during the murder trial ending last week. Henry Houghton, of Scarisbrick, Lancashire, was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in March last year for his role in Matthew Daulby's murder. Outside court Det Chief Insp Andy Fallows, from Lancashire Police, said: 'I welcome today's sentence which brings to an end the Daulby family's long and arduous wait for justice. 'Tomorrow marks two years since Matthew was unlawfully taken from them. 'And the Daulby family have had to wait patiently for the man responsible for delivering the fatal injury to answer for his crimes. 'They have had to figure out a way to try and grieve, knowing the man responsible to taking their son's life was actively evading justice, and celebrating his 21st birthday in the sun. Something Matthew will never be able to do. 'Thomas Dures came back to the UK with the intent of getting in the dock and telling a catalogue of lies. He pointed the finger of blame at everybody but himself and took no accountability for his actions. 'Thankfully the jury saw through his lies and ensured that Dures will be held accountable for his crimes. 'I'd like to thank my investigation team for everything they have done in securing this conviction, the Crown Prosecution Service and our KC, Peter Glenser and junior counsel Katy Appleton. 'I would also like to thank the public and the media for all the witness appeals they shared, and their help in keeping this case in the spotlight. 'I have no doubt that it kept the pressure up and played no small part in Dures taking the decision to hand himself in.'
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Jury retires to consider verdicts in Christmas Day stabbing murder trial
The jury in the trial of a 'jealous' woman accused of stabbing her ex-partner to death on Christmas Day after seeing his profile on a dating app has retired to consider its verdicts. Kirsty Carless, 33, is accused of plunging a knife into 31-year-old Louis Price's heart in the early hours of December 25 2024 in an attack 'motivated by anger and jealousy, and fuelled by cocaine and alcohol' after a friend sent her a picture of his Tinder profile, Stafford Crown Court heard. Prosecutors allege Carless, of Haling Way in Cannock, Staffordshire, took a kitchen knife in a taxi from her home to Mr Price's parents' address in Elm Road, Norton Canes, where she expected to find him with a woman. CCTV showed Carless running up the front path into the house and then 'stalking' him around the garden before he was later found with a single stab wound to the chest on the conservatory floor. The court was told Carless had called Mr Price 45 times between 2.15am and 2.44am while she waited for the taxi to take her to his address and called the cab company two more times during that time to find out where it was. She is said to have asked the taxi driver to wait outside while she went in the property to stab Mr Price at around 3am, before fleeing minutes later in the cab to her parents' address, where she was arrested. Father-of-six Mr Price had been considered by police to be 'at very high risk of domestic abuse' and Carless was on police bail at the time of the fatal stabbing after allegedly strangling Mr Price on November 11 2024. In her evidence to the trial, Carless said she had no recollection of stabbing him, was 'not a violent person' and had only gone to Mr Price's address as she believed he had taken money from inside a card she had in her home. She said she picked up a knife with intent to destroy the caravan he was staying in in his parents' back garden and had 'panicked' after Mr Price was stabbed and fled. She denies murder and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place in relation to the fatal stabbing, and intentional strangling and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to the incident in November. The jury were sent out to start their deliberations by judge Mr Justice Choudhury at 11.41am on Monday.
