Convicted Murderer's Elaborate Prison Cell Plot to Derail £45m Drug Smuggling Trial
A convicted murderer who once famously escaped prison using a homemade grappling hook has been sentenced for orchestrating an elaborate jury tampering plot from his prison cell aimed at collapsing a £45 million international drug smuggling trial. William Todd, 61, received seven years in prison after being found guilty of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in a scheme that targeted the judicial process at its most vulnerable point.
The Hollywood-Inspired Alias and Secret Communications
Operating under the alias Ari Gold – the fictional Hollywood agent from the television series Entourage – Todd directed the sophisticated plot using a secret mobile phone from within Coldingley prison. The convicted killer, who was serving two life sentences for the attempted murder of his former business partner Arthur de Sousa and the shooting death of Mr de Sousa's bodyguard in Pangbourne, Berkshire, was nearing the end of his sentence when he initiated this brazen attempt to undermine justice.
The £45m Drug Smuggling Operation
The organized crime group at the center of this case had smuggled 448 kilograms of MDMA to Australia concealed within the arm of an industrial excavator. The criminal enterprise unraveled after Danny Brown, 58, inadvertently revealed crucial evidence by sending a photograph of his pet French Bulldog Bob to co-conspirator Stefan Baldauf, 66. The dog's collar tag displayed Brown's partner's phone number in the image transmitted over the encrypted EncroChat platform.
The Sophisticated Jury Tampering Scheme
Southwark Crown Court heard how Todd masterminded the plot on behalf of others, employing a 46-year-old man who cannot be identified for legal reasons as his external operative. This individual recorded the names of jurors when they were sworn in for the drug trafficking trial. When the jury retired to consider verdicts in June 2022, false claims were sent to Kingston Crown Court and police alleging that named jurors had accepted bribes of up to £20,000 to acquit the defendants.
The initial allegations cast suspicion on the entire jury, court staff, solicitors, and barristers, creating significant disruption to the judicial process. However, investigators discovered inconsistencies – some jurors had already been discharged, and names had been misspelled – revealing what prosecutor Charlotte Hole described as "a dishonest attempt to derail the trial."
Escalation After Convictions
After Brown, Baldauf, and four other men were found guilty of drug trafficking days later, the conspiracy escalated. Sheree Avard, 41, from Woking, Surrey, was recruited in a desperate bid to have the convictions quashed. The court heard how Avard contacted Brown's lawyer while posing as the girlfriend of a juror, claiming this juror had confessed to being pressured by corrupt National Crime Agency officials to convict the defendants.
The plotters created a fake passport in the name of Ioana Andrei and paid a woman in Romania 2,000 euros to sign an official deposition, along with a corrupt solicitor in Bucharest. These fabricated documents were then sent to the defense lawyer and subsequently leaked online with claims of police and NCA corruption influencing jurors.
Judicial Response and Sentencing
Sentencing Todd, Avard, and the unidentified co-conspirator, Judge Gregory Perrins declared that the plot "struck at the very heart of justice" and represented "a professional, persistent and sophisticated attempt to undermine the trial and then the convictions of people involved in serious organized crime." The judge emphasized that Todd had "close links" with the criminal organization and had "directed every part of the conspiracy" from his prison cell.
Prosecutor Charlotte Hole warned that "there was a real risk of serious consequences for innocent parties," noting that "had this been believed, jurors could have been in contempt of court or worse."
Law Enforcement Perspective
Steve Ahmet, senior investigating officer at the NCA's Anti-Corruption Unit, stated: "This case shows the remarkable lengths that high-harm criminals will go to in order to cheat justice and why they pose the greatest corruption threat to crucial pillars of our society. The offenders were determined to help their criminal associates walk free but our team built a rock-solid case against them."
Brown, from Bromley, Kent, and Baldauf, from Ealing, west London, received prison sentences of 26 years and 28 years respectively in December 2022 for their roles in the drug trafficking operation. Avard and the unidentified co-conspirator received 12 months and three years four months respectively for their participation in the jury tampering conspiracy.
This case highlights the ongoing challenges faced by the justice system in protecting judicial integrity against sophisticated criminal enterprises willing to employ extraordinary measures to evade accountability.
