Four British yacht crew...

[DeeGee]

Story at the top of the page. This is a bit of a shocker. I seem to remember twins being found not-guilty of murder of their parent(s) where the evidence was considerable that one of them did it, but it was impossible to convict both. Wouldnt the same sort of principle apply here? Unless the fingerprints of one or other of the crew were found on the slabs of cocaine, or otherwise in the secret compartment, it would be impossible to determine the guilt of anyone beyond reasonable doubt? Gib is English, after all...

 

[Sailfree]

Talking to a supplier at work about boats he told me that the person he bought his house from went sailing. Somewhere in Med (poss Gibralter) got befriended by some people and agreed to charter them his boat.

On return the boat was seized due to drugs on board and the owner lost everything through one inprudent charter.

Problem with the case you highlight is that people could arrange for others to load the drugs, sail them to their destination, let others unload them say while ashore and be guilty of nothing as they had never "touched" them! Yes it seems harsh if they were simply gullible rather than participants but not sure how transporting drugs can be an offence if the person has to touch them to be guilty.

Now I did not lock my cockpit lockers when in Paimpol - I wonder what I could have innocently brought back to the UK - now the beer & wine - guilty as charged!!!!