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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Hannah Al-Othman

UK gangster Curtis Warren admits breaches of crime prevention order

Curtis Warren
Curtis Warren has previous convictions in the Netherlands and Jersey for drugs offences. Photograph: States of Jersey police/PA

The notorious gangster Curtis “Cocky” Warren has been handed a 14-month jail term, suspended for 18 months, after he pleaded guilty at Liverpool crown court to failing to comply with a serious crime prevention order.

Warren, 61, pleaded guilty to six breaches of the order, said to have been committed after his release from prison in 2022. He had previously pleaded not guilty at the same court to 18 counts of failing to comply with an SCPO.

National Crime Agency (NCA) officers arrested Warren at a property in South Tyneside where he was staying in July last year.

According to the charges, he had failed to notify the NCA of an application for a passport, details of bank accounts and credit and debit cards, and of communication devices, and had failed to notify the agency of all sources of income.

The alleged breaches also included using a vehicle that he had not declared to the NCA, and failing to notify the agency of travel to Spain, and a change of address.

Warren had been due to stand trial but changed his pleas to guilty on six of the counts. These related to his use of communications devices, finances, income, vehicles, travel and place of residence.

He admitted a further charge, which he asked to be taken into account when he was being sentenced.

Warren, who has previously been convicted in the Netherlands and Jersey for drugs offences, was once Interpol’s “target one” and has appeared on the Sunday Times rich list.

He was released from HMP Whitemoor in November 2022 having served a 14-year sentence for his role in a conspiracy to import cannabis into Jersey, and failing to pay back £198m in criminal money under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Warren’s barrister, Anthony Barraclough, said: “He doesn’t want to be in the public glare any more, he wants peace and an end to it.”

The head of the NCA’s prisons and lifetime management unit, Alison Abbott, said: “Curtis Warren treated his order with contempt, breaching it within days of his release from prison and going on to breach it multiple times.

“As we did with Warren, we will actively monitor all those who are subject to such orders, and they will stay on our radar even after they are released from jail.”

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