Role model gym owner jailed for smuggling cigs

POLICE DISCOVERED £440K IN CASH SECRETED AT NEIL 'BOSS' CONLON'S HOME

- By ROB KENNEDY Court reporter

A RESPECTED gym owner caught with more than seven million illegally smuggled cigarettes on which he had evaded more than £2m in duty has been jailed.

Neil Conlon, 64, was an upstanding member of the community who was viewed as "role model.

But he turned to the illegal importation of non-UK duty paid tobacco products to make ends meet and it "spiralled out of control", a court heard. When police went to his home in Forest Hall, North Tyneside, they found £443,000 in cash secreted in various places.

Conlon had smuggled the cigarettes into the UK with the help of contacts in Eastern Europe. Now, he has been locked up for two years and eight months at Newcastle Crown Court.

It was back in July 2018 that HMRC officers attended at a self-storage site in Killingworth, North Tyneside, called Pay Less for Workspace. Adam Birkby, prosecuting, said: "They gained access to shipping containers. The shipping containers were packed with non-UK duty paid cigarettes"

A total of 7,432,600 cigarettes were seized by HMRC. The total duty amount of duty evaded on the cigarettes was £2,082,447. HMRC launched an investigation to track down those responsible for storing the illegal cigarettes in the three containers.

From the records held by Pay Less for Workspace, HMRC discovered that the containers had been rented to Conlon's wife's sister. In July 2017, she told storage staff she was starting a new wedding decoration business with her sister. She initially leased one container then said she needed more, the court heard.