Mari Adrianus Van Gerwen [2019] EWCA Crim 1377

The applicant was convicted of fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of cocaine and sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment. He renewed his application for an extension of time in which to apply for leave to appeal against conviction and leave to adduce fresh evidence.

The applicant was the driver and sole occupant of a horsebox stopped by customs at Dover. Inside a concealment of 50kg of high purity cocaine was found, with a value just under £4m. The defence case was that he was an innocent dupe, but bad character evidence was adduced in relation to a similar incident in which he was stopped driving a horsebox with 10kg of cocaine. At that trial he had argued that he was aware of the presence of the drugs but was acting under duress, and he was acquitted.

The fresh evidence was from two witnesses who he said could give evidence that someone had hidden the drugs whilst the horsebox had been rented. The single judge refused leave saying that the central issue for the jury was his knowledge of the presence of the drugs and that nothing in the new evidence went to that central question of knowledge. The prosecution case was not that he placed the drugs in the horsebox but that he was fully aware it had been adapted for the purpose of transporting cocaine and that he was fully involved in the enterprise of importing the drugs.

The Court agreed with the single judge’s analysis and refused the applications.