Sophia Dower Acts for University Lecturer Involved in Industrial Scale Cocaine Conspiracy

Sophia Dower represented JP, a former teacher, University Lecturer, and Dean of Faculty, who was involved in the supply of cocaine on an “industrial scale” throughout the south-west of England and Wales. The conspiracy came to light in January 2024 after a co-conspirator was stopped with 30kg of cocaine in the boot of her car, valued at £2.4million. Over the 4-month conspiracy period, the total amount of cocaine supplied was in the region of 170kg, and over £2million in cash was transferred.

Sophia’s client was initially described as the “right-hand man” of the first defendant, who was personally responsible for the supply of 30kg of cocaine over 16 separate dates. However, his involvement was substantially reduced after Sophia carefully and tactfully negotiated a basis of plea, which resulted in his role being limited to only 6 dates and 8kg of cocaine. The basis of plea was subsequently given significant weight by the sentencing judge, curtailing any uplift to reflect the global conspiracy amounts and resulting in a very favourable starting point of just 10 years, especially when compared to his co-conspirators, whose starting points were 21, 19, 18, and 16 years, respectively. With mitigation and credit, Sophia’s client was sentenced to just 6 years and 7 months’ imprisonment.

Counsel was instructed by Hojol Uddin of JMW Solicitors.

Media coverage: BBC News | ITV News | Bristol Post