Four men jailed for cocaine smuggling on boat off Cornwall coast
The group had attempted to bring £100 million of drugs to shore
Last updated 8th May 2025
Four men have been jailed for a combined 90 years for attempting to smuggle £100 million of cocaine on a fishing boat off the Cornish coast.
45 year old Michael Kelly, from Portway, Manchester; and 27 year old Jake Marchant, of no fixed address, both pleaded guilty to importing Class A drugs during a hearing at Truro Crown Court in October.
Two other men - 46 year old Jon Williams, and 31 year old Patrick Godfrey, both from Swansea, were convicted of the charge after a trial at the same court.
Today (Thursday 8th May) the group have been sentenced as follows:
- Williams has been sentenced to 26 years
- Godfrey to 25 years in prison
- Marchant will spend 18 years in jail
- Kelly has been given 21 years behind bars
The National Crime Agency (NCA), which investigated the case, said 1,076kg of high purity cocaine was found on the fishing boat the Lila Lola on September 13th last year.
The Border Force cutter HMC Valiant was on patrol off the north coast of Cornwall and deployed a smaller boat to intercept the Lila Lola.
Williams, the captain, was at the helm, with Marchant next to him.
Kelly was in the accommodation area and Godfrey was asleep in a deck chair, the NCA said.
NCA branch commander Derek Evans said: “The NCA works around the clock to fight the threat of Class A drugs which wreck people’s lives and devastate our communities.
“Working with Border Force and the Joint Maritime Security Centre, we prevented a huge haul of cocaine from hitting the streets of the UK and wider Europe and ensured organised criminals are deprived of the significant profits they would have gained had these drugs made it into the country.”