Skip to main contentSkip to navigation
Print subscriptions
Sign in
Search jobs
Search
The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Freshwater Five

April 2021

  • Freshwater Five court case<br>Scott Birtwistle (second right) who was sentenced to 14 years’ detention and Daniel Payne (centre), who was jailed for 18yrs, two members of the Freshwater Five, for trying to smuggle 250kg of cocaine into the UK, outside the Royal Courts of Justice, central London, where Mr Payne is challenging his conviction in the Court of Appeal. Picture date: Thursday February 25, 2021. PA Photo. Mr Payne, 46, was jailed in 2011 for conspiracy to import £53 million of cocaine into the UK, via Freshwater Bay, off the coast of the Isle of Wight. Payne and three of his co-defendants – Jamie Green, Scott Birtwistle and Zoran Dresic – were said to have collected the drugs from the English Channel in a fishing boat, the Galwad-Y-Mor, in May 2010. See PA story COURTS FreshwaterFive. Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

    Inside the Guardian
    Telling the story of the Freshwater Five: 'Millions are debating their innocence'

    Huge numbers of listeners have been tuning in to our podcast series about the fishermen imprisoned on drugs charges

March 2021

  • Daniel Payne, one of the Freshwater Five

    Today in Focus
    Freshwater part 6: the decision

    The court of appeal heard the appeal of the Freshwater Five last week. In the final part of our miniseries, we hear how the judges reached their decision and what it means

February 2021

  • Daniel Payne, who was convicted as part of a drug smuggling conspiracy with four other fishermen on the Isle of Wight in 2011, stands with his dog Drago on the coastal path overlooking Freshwater Bay, near to where the drug parcels were discovered. Payne has always maintained his innocence. Freshwater, Isle of Wight, UK. 20th March 2020.

    Freshwater Five drug-smuggling convictions unsafe, court hears

  • The Royal Courts of Justice

    Today in Focus
    Freshwater part 5: the appeal

  • Border Force vessel Cutter Vigilant

    Today in Focus
    Freshwater part 4: radar

  • Daniel Payne, who was convicted as part of a drug smuggling conspiracy.

    New doubt over fishermen’s cocaine smuggling convictions

  • Today in Focus
    Freshwater part 3: the clifftop evidence

  • Today in Focus
    Freshwater part 2: the circumstantial evidence

  • The Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast launches new mini series looking at the case of the Freshwater Five

  • Today in Focus
    Freshwater part 1: are the wrong men in jail?

October 2020

  • Jamie Green’s old fishing boat, the Galwad, grounded at Medina Yard in Cowes, Isle of Wight, in March 2020.

    Freshwater Five: radar casts doubt on guilty verdict for £53m cocaine haul

    Lawyer appealing for release of fishermen says evidence shows their boat was in wrong place for drugs transfer off Isle of Wight

April 2020

  • Daniel Payne, 45, who was convicted but is now out on licence, standing by a cliff with a dog.

    Five fishermen, a stormy night and £53m of cocaine: were the Freshwater Five wrongly convicted?

    A decade ago, the fishermen were sentenced to a total of 104 years in prison. Now, new evidence suggests they are innocent
Explore more on these topics
  翻译：