Police officers are currently trying to track down a man who has recently been accused of being involved in a drug-dealing gang. The man, known as Jamie Acourt, was supposed to appear in court for allegedly plotting to supply drugs.
Prior to this case, Jamie had been suspected for the murder of a teenager called Stephen Lawrence. The 18-year old was killed at a bus stop in Eltham, South East London, back in 1993. Together with his 40-year old brother aka Neil Stuart, the two brothers had been in custody of the police along with five other men who were accused of being co-conspirators in the murder trial. While Neil and one of the men (Luke Knight) were charged with murder, the case against them was dropped. In 2012, the two other men, David Norris and Gary Dobson, were convicted and jailed for the murder of the teen. Jamie, on the other hand, was cleared from the murder charge filed against him.
Neil appeared in court without his brother yesterday, who stood in front of magistrates in Wimbledon. He was charged with a conspiracy to supply illegal class B drugs. This was after police officers obtained 100kg of cannabis estimate to be worth around £4 million. The conspiracy alleged that men from the North East and London were part of the drug trade. The other man who was charged along with Neil was Jamie's father-in-law, Lee Birks, a 54-year old man from Orpington, Kent. When the bench chairman Jim Peters read the sentencing, Neil sat with a blank face. Peters refused bail to the six defendants stating that this was still "an ongoing investigation."
Part of the group accused for drug dealing included 44-year old James Botton, 62-year old Jack Vose, 48-year old Paul Beavers, and 27-year old Daniel Thompson. They are scheduled for a hearing at Kingston crown court on March 2nd.
Jamie Acourt remains at large.
