Joseph Kassar's conviction unsafe
01 May 2004
Joseph Kassar was jailed 11 years ago after being found guilty of trying to smuggle £200 million of cocaine into the UK in lead ingots. Sentenced to 24 years, Joe's was Britain's biggest drugs trial. In July 2004 he was freed by the Court of Appeal with his conviction quashed. The case was referred back to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, and the appeal was not opposed by the Crown Prosecution Service, which conceded that the failure to disclose information at the trial meant the conviction was unsafe. The information which eventually freed Joe Kassar had been known since his conviction, but Joe was refused leave to appeal in 1996.