by Chris Malone
Criminals in the North East have been discovered using a stolen Bailey Senator as part of a tobacco smuggling ring, it has been reported.
According to the Northern Echo, the caravan was taken from a driveway in West Yorkshire in May 2008 and found at a storage park in Shotton Colliery in November last year.
Durham Crown Court was told that the tourer had 200kg of suspected contraband tobacco inside and owner Brian Bennett was arrested at the site.
The £19,000 caravan was only two years old when it went missing and Mr Bennett initially claimed he’d bought it for £1,400 and was unaware that it was stolen.
However, he later admitted that he had used it to store contraband cigarettes for others and pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods in reference to the tourer.
Despite this, he has escaped charges from HM Revenue & Customs after it emerged that the accused had been enduring pressure from creditors.
The court did hand him a 12-month community sentence and 12 months’ supervision, as well as 200 hours of unpaid work.
The Senator range was the luxury offering from Bailey until it was replaced in 2010 by the Unicorn range.
