Men jailed for part in £18.4m boat chase drug plot

In total six men have been jailed for their part in the drug smuggling operation

Two men who were part of an £18.4m cocaine smuggling operation which saw Border Force officers pursue a drug-laden boat off the coast of Cornwall for an hour have been jailed.

Peter Williams, 44, of Havant, Hampshire, and 29-year-old Bobbie Pearce, of Brentwood, Essex, both admitted their part in a conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the UK when they appeared for sentencing at Truro Crown Court.

Fisherman Williams, who had been skipper of the boat that was used to carry the drugs, was jailed for 16 years and nine months.

Market trader Pearce, who was in a car which he drove from Essex to firstly Plymouth and then Cornwall as part of the smuggling plot, was given 15 years and four months.

Six men have been jailed in total for their parts in trying to bring the class A drugs into the UK.

'Acting under instruction'

The court heard Williams was arrested when the rigid hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) he was skippering ran aground on Gwynver Beach, near Sennen, following the chase at sea on 13 September 2024.

He was caught on the beach as he tried to run away.

Pearce's phone showed he was in the Land's End area when the RHIB beached and he quickly departed the area and drove back to Essex.

Williams' lawyer Harry Laidlaw told the court: "He knew full well what he was getting himself into.

"He just captained the boat. He was a foot soldier acting under instruction.

"He did not have an operational or management role in the chain. His role was simple, albeit skilled."

Pearce's lawyer Ishan Dave said his client had no previous convictions and had never been involved in the drugs world before.

Judge James Adkin said this was an international conspiracy to smuggle large quantities of cocaine into the UK.

He added that the conspiracy involved two organised crime groups in the South West and South East - their aim being "to flood the streets of Essex and London with cocaine with grave societal harm".