Crime boss Jamie “Iceman” Stevenson beamed with delight on Tuesday and gave a thumbs up sign to prison staff after appeal judges cut almost four years from his jail term.
The 59-year-old smiled broadly after judges Lord Doherty and Lord Matthews concluded that their colleague Lord Ericht was mistaken to give Stevenson a 20 year sentence last year. Stevenson was jailed following proceedings at the High Court in Glasgow after he pleaded guilty to being involved in bringing millions of pounds of cocaine into the UK.
The court heard how he had a key role in racket which saw £76million of high purity cocaine being hidden inside boxes of bananas – the smuggling operation was foiled after the police intercepted the haul at Dover in 2020. Stevenson also had a key role in a street valium factory in Kent which could produce 250,000 tablets an hour.
Stevenson pleaded guilty to being involved in the supply of cocaine. He also admitted a separate charge of being involved in serious and organised crime by having a leading role in the street Valium factory. Lord Ericht gave Stevenson 12 years for the cocaine charge and eight years for the offence – he ordered the sentences to be served consecutively because he believed the offences were “different” to each other.
This prompted Stevenson’s lawyers to go to the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh. On Tuesday, defence advocate Thomas Ross KC argued that Lord Ericht was mistaken in his sentencing approach. Mr Ross said that the evidence in the cases showed that both the cocaine and street valium charges took place at the same time as each other.
The court heard that Lord Ericht should have concluded that the offences were part of the same course of offending behaviour. Mr Ross also argued that Lord Ericht should have given Stevenson some credit for pleading guilty and saving the need for court time and for witnesses being forced to come to court to give evidence.
Lord Doherty and Lord Matthews agreed with the submissions made to them by Mr Ross and decided to impose a sentence of 16 years and three months on Stevenson. Stevenson, who observed proceedings from prison via video link, started smiling broadly as Lord Doherty announced the court’s decision.
He could be seen giving a thumbs up sign as Lord Doherty said: “These were very serious offences. However, a sentence of 20 years is disproportionate. The plea of guilty resulted in the saving of court time and it saved the inconvenience of witnesses having to come to court to give evidence. We shall quash the sentence of 20 years and in its place impose a sentence of 16 years and three months.”
Stevenson is one of Scotland’s most notorious gangsters. He was extradited back to Scotland from the Netherlands so he could stand trial. Five other members of his gang were jailed following proceedings at the High Court in Glasgow. Stevenson’s stepson Gerard Carbin, 45, got seven years, David Bilsland, 68, Lloyd Cross, 32, and Paul Bowes, 53, six years each, while Ryan McPhee, 34, was locked up for four years.
Passing sentence, Lord Ericht made references to the charges on the indictment brought before the court to tell Stevenson: “In respect of charge three I sentence you to a period of imprisonment of 12 years, backdated to 9 February 9 2022, the date of your arrest in the Netherlands.
“You played a leading role in a complex operation to manufacture and distribute Etizolam tablets, a class C drug. The operation included a manufacturing facility in an industrial estate in Rochester. When the factory was raided police seized almost 13.5 million tablets, with a wholesale value of around £400,000. The machinery in the factory was capable of manufacturing 258,000 tablets per hour.
“You arranged customers for the sale of the tablets. In addition you exercised control over aspects of the operation: you assigned Mr Carbin to a different role in the operation, moving him from sales to manufacturing in order to ‘run it make sure they don’t steal’. In respect of charge 8, I sentence you to a period of imprisonment of eight years.
“Because the cocaine operation and the Etizolam operation were different operations, the sentence for charge 8 will be consecutive to the sentence for charge 3 and I am satisfied that the total period of 20 years imprisonment is fair and proportionate.”
On Tuesday, Mr Ross told the court that the sentence wasn’t proportionate. Mr Ross said the cocaine and the street valium offences were linked. He added: “There should have been a reduction of some sort in the sentence.” The appeal judges agreed.