‘Iceman’ Jamie Stevenson’s 20 year sentence for cocaine smuggling and running a valium factory is reduced after appeal.
Last year, he got 20 years in jail after pleading guilty to cocaine charges in Glasgow. He helped bring millions in cocaine to the UK.
He had a big role in a cocaine smuggling operation where the cocaine was hidden in banana boxes. Police found £76 million worth of cocaine at Dover in 2020. Stevenson also ran a street valium factory, and the Kent factory made 250,000 pills per hour.
Stevenson admitted to cocaine supply involvement and organized crime. He led the valium factory operation. The judge gave him 12 years for cocaine and eight years for the valium factory. The sentences were to run one after the other because the judge thought the crimes were different.
Stevenson’s lawyers appealed the sentence in Edinburgh, arguing that the first judge made a mistake. The lawyer argued that the crimes happened at the same time and the cocaine and valium charges were linked. The lawyer said the judge should have seen the offenses as connected.
He argued sentencing should consider his guilty plea, as this plea saved court time and witnesses did not need to testify.
Judges agreed with Stevenson’s lawyer and reduced his sentence to 16 years and three months. Stevenson watched from prison via video and smiled when he heard the new sentence. He gave a thumbs up when the judge announced it.
The judge called the crimes severe, but the appeal stated 20 years was too much, as the guilty plea saved time and inconvenience. They then changed the sentence to 16 years, three months.
Stevenson is a notorious gangster in Scotland who was brought from the Netherlands for trial. Five gang members were also jailed in Glasgow; his stepson, Gerard Carbin, got seven years. David Bilsland, Lloyd Cross and Paul Bowes got six, and Ryan McPhee received four years.
The first judge talked about the charges and sentenced Stevenson to 12 years for the cocaine starting from his arrest in the Netherlands.
He led a complex valium tablet operation that had a factory in Rochester. Police found 13.5 million tablets there, worth around £400,000 wholesale, and the factory could make 258,000 tablets per hour.
He managed customers for the tablets and also controlled parts of the factory. He moved Carbin to manufacturing to prevent theft, and the judge gave him eight years for this charge.
Since the cocaine and valium operations differed, the sentences ran consecutively. The judge believed 20 years was fair.
On Tuesday, his lawyer said the sentence was unfair and the drug offenses were linked. A sentence reduction was proper, he said. The appeal judges agreed with those points.