A Brit who once snorted cocaine off the grave of Pablo Escobar and vowed "never to return" to Colombia after angering local cartels has been jailed for drug dealing.
Steven Semmens and four fellow cocaine conspirators have been sentenced to a total of more than 52 years in prison at Swansea Crown Court for their parts in peddling the Class A drug, reports WalesOnline.
On a trip to the South American country in 2018, Semmens was filmed spilling cocaine on the gravestone of Escobar and he said that he carried out the stunt for a bet and did not think things would go as far as they did.
His barrister said that Semmens' actions did not go down well with some Colombian criminals and that what he did was an example of his naivety.
Swansea Crown Court heard that Semmens and fellow defendants were involved in trafficking large quantities of cocaine into south Wales.
Semmens and another defendant Shane White plotted to import kilos of cocaine from South America to the UK but the court heard not a single gram actually arrived and there was "something almost comical about their ineptitude".
Another of the defendants, Swansea plumber Andrew Botto, used a shipping container hidden behind camouflage netting and fencing just yards from a busy road as a base for his separate cocaine-dealing operation. When police forced entry to the locked unit in May last year as part of Operation Wizard they found a 1kg block of high-purity cocaine in a cool box along with disposable gloves, bags, and weighing scales.
Botto was arrested later the same day and was found to have more than £2,000 in cash in his trouser pockets.
Semmens - also known as Steven Pascoe, 39, of Port Talbot; Botto, 34, of Swansea; White, 34, of Port Talbot; and Ieuan Emlyn Williams, 37, also from Port Talbot, had all previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine between April 2020 and August 2021, when they appeared in the dock for sentencing on Thursday.
Semmens and White had also admitted to conspiracy to import cocaine. Botto had also previously pleaded guilty to a separate conspiracy to supply cocaine, while White had also previously admitted conspiracy to import cannabis.
Speaking in 2018, Semmens said that he was thrown out of Colombia after sniffing cocaine off Escobar's grave having been found by police despite cutting his hair to change his appearance.
He said the incident and the notoriety which follow had made it "awkward" to get a job and he added: "I just thought it would be a laugh, I didn't think it would go this far... I was drunk at the time... I've been bombarded with threats that I'm going to get skinned alive."
Andrew Taylor, for Semmens, said his client had led an "unusual and unfortunate" life having been brought up by his stepfather in Spain, where he learnt the language, and after starting a relationship with a Colombian woman, they moved to the country.
Judge Huw Rees said the defendants had been involved in the commercial-scale trafficking and dealing of the cocaine.
He said: "It goes without saying, but it seemingly needs to be said, sheer greed led you to profit from selling an insidious Class A drug without a thought or a care about the misery or danger being inflicted on others. To put it in short form - you were in it for the money and you must pay the consequences for your avarice".
With discounts for their guilty pleas he sentenced Semmens to 13 and a half years in prison, White to 15 years and four months behind bars, Botto to nine years and seven months in jail, and Williams to six years in prison.
As part of the same operation Richard Philip Ronald Gerrard, 42, of Heysham, Lancashire, had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine alongside Semmens, White, Botto, and Williams and he has already been sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison.
Luke Thomas, 21, of North Cornelly, had previously been sentenced to six months in prison suspended for 12 months and ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to supply cannabis which White had imported.
