Shooters boss gets 25 years in jail

A man who led a double life as a drinks company boss and international drugs smuggler has been jailed for 25 years. Francis Kennedy, 39 ­ who launched the folded test-tube shots company Shooters in Liverpool ­ was given the prison sentence after being found guilty of conspiracy to supply controlled drugs with a street value of more than £5m. His associates, John Morris, 42, and Gordon Alee, 52, were each found guilty of the same offence and jailed for 22 years each by Liverpool Crown Court on 13 February. The three were arrested in November 2002 following a major surveillance operation by Merseyside Police, the National Crime Squad and the National Criminal Intelligence Service. The court heard that most of the drugs came from Venezuela via Holland and Spain before the three men organised their delivery across the UK, through a team of couriers. A number of couriers were also arrested and jailed as a result of the police operation. Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC said: "We are not dealing with street-level dealers or addicts, but with an organisation which is directly responsible for the introduction and distribution of large quantities of Class A drugs. We are at or near the top of the business operation." Kennedy was hailed as a success story by local media when he founded a company supplying vodka and fruit shots. He claimed the company was set to expand to 100 staff and was on the verge of attracting big supermarket and franchise deals. At the same time, he was making a lucrative living from his other "business" of selling huge quantities of cocaine, heroin and ecstasy. The police operation, code-named Babraham, started in September 2001, by targeting the couriers one-by-one. Detectives narrowed in on the three men at the top of the operation after a South American drugs runner was caught trying to smuggle nearly £1m worth of cocaine at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. Jailing Kennedy, Alee and Morris, Judge Ian Crompton said: "The supply of drugs in this case has been on a truly massive scale. Kennedy, you were the leader." He added: "You play for high stakes and you must expect high sentences to follow when you are caught." The men will re-appear in court in June for the court to determine how much of their assets to seize. Attack on barman earns prison term A man who punched a bar worker and knocked out one of his teeth has been jailed for three months by Blackburn magistrates. Paul Earnshaw, 41, hit Thomas Finn several times in the face before being ejected from the Park Pub in Montague Street, Blackburn. Finn, whose sister owns the pub, lost one tooth and had two others damaged during the attack on 1 January 2004. Magistrates heard how Earnshaw was enraged after Finn reported his nephews to the police. He entered the bar and accused Finn of terrorising his family before throwing two punches. Michael Blacklidge, defending, said: "My client says the first blow was a backhander rather than a clenched fist." Earnshaw pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm and was sentenced to three months in prison and ordered to pay £500 compensation. Landlady beaten by drunken customer A drunken customer, who beat up a pub landlady in Lancashire, has been banned from local bars for six months and ordered to serve 80 hours community service. Magistrates at Ormskirk Crown Court heard how Skelmersdale-born Gary Clark assaulted Janet McCarthy, licensee at the Golden Lion in Moor Street, on 7 November 2003. McCarthy told the court that Clark was a regular customer and friend before "turning" on her. "He asked if he could have a word outside the pub. He then grabbed my hair and smacked my head against the concrete floor a number of times," she said. McCarthy suffered heavy bruising and also became depressed after the attack. "He has never offered an explanation as to why he did it and never apologised. He's shown no remorse," she added. Clark pleaded guilty to assault. He was ordered to pay £250 compensation costs to McCarthy and cover the prosecution's costs. He will also be barred from entering local pubs within the West Lancashire police's Pubwatch scheme.