EasyJet cabin manager jailed for smuggling
The ringleader of a gang that used an airline’s staff discounted travel to smuggle cigarettes through UK airports has been jailed for 21 months today.
HM Revenue and Customs found that easyJet flight attendant Dennis Connolly, 43, from Southport had organised over 130 smuggling trips, for himself and five others, using airline staff discounts.
The gang hid cigarettes and tobacco in their luggage to avoid paying £180,000 in duty and taxes.
The five men and one woman from Warrington, Liverpool, St Helens and Southport were sentenced at Manchester Crown Court today after pleading guilty at an earlier court hearing.
Sandra Smith, HMRC assistant director, criminal investigation, said: "Airline employees hold a position of trust and abusing such privileges in order to smuggle is a serious matter.
"Connolly organised subsidised travel purely for smuggling purposes. There are no excuses for smuggling, whatever your status.
"Tobacco fraud costs honest taxpayers more than £2 billion a year, undercutting honest businesses, and drawing people into wider criminality."
The gang was caught when three of them were stopped by Border Force officers at Liverpool John Lennon Airport on two separate dates.
Terence Steele, 57, was stopped in November 2013 as he attempted to pass through the Customs Green Channel with 20 kilos of hand rolling tobacco in his luggage, after a one-day trip to Faro, Portugal.
Dale O’Brien, 36, and Paul Rigby, 44, both unemployed, were stopped together at the same airport in April 2013, with 29 kilos of tobacco in their luggage, after an identical trip. An investigation by HMRC linked the smuggling activities of the gang.
Connolly, Steele and Adele Jenkinson, 41, also an easyJet employee, made large purchases of duty-free tobacco in Spain and Portugal for the gang to smuggle. Meanwhile, office worker Barry Gwynn, 39, booked 12 smuggling trips for himself and others using Jenkinson’s airline staff discount.
All except Connolly received suspended prison sentences.
The court heard that Connolly had joined easyJet in 1999 and enjoyed an unblemished career.
But in 2007 his boyfriend died of pancreatic cancer and Connolly, full of grief, gambled away a £90,000 life insurance payout playing virtual roulette.
After running up debts, and was approached by a friend who suggested he set up a contraband tobacco racket.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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