Drug baron, 58, who ‘hid £198MILLION fortune from police’ is set for freedom after spending nearly HALF his life in jail – but faces curbs on spending

  • After serving a 14-year sentence, Curtis Warren could be released next year.
  • Warren, 58 years old, is currently at HMP Long Lartin (Worcestershire).
  • Sources claim Warren will be released automatically in 12 months. 










Curtis 'Cocky' Warren, 57, is a Liverpool-born gangster who became an international drug trafficker worth tens of millions of pounds

Curtis ‘Cocky” Warren, 57, is an international drug dealer worth tens to millions of pounds. He was born in Liverpool.

A drug baron who hid a £198million fortune from police is set for freedom after spending nearly half his life in jail.  

Curtis Warren, 58, could be released from jail next year after serving his 14-year term but will face curbs on spending on assets costing more than £1000.

Warren is currently believed to be at HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire. However, The reports that he could be moved to a prison of a lower classification before his release next November. Mirror

Sources claim Warren will be released in 12 month’s time, despite the fact that’many career crime victims regard prison as an interruption which seldom marks the end their involvement with organised crime’ Alison Abbot from the National Crime Agency (NCA), stated. 

Warren, who once had an estimated fortune of £300million, was jailed for 13 years in 2009 over a plot to smuggle £1million of cannabis into Jersey. 

In 2007 Warren (right) was pictured being met by his childhood friend and crime partner John Welsh at Jersey airport, days after he was released from jail for a previous offence

Warren (right), was photographed meeting his childhood friend, John Welsh, at Jersey Airport in 2007, days after he was released from prison for a prior offence.

Warren was photographed meeting John Welsh, his childhood friend and crime partner, at Jersey Airport in 2007, days after he was released from prison for a previous offense. 

He was given another ten years after he failed to pay a £198million confiscation order and has spent most of the last 25 years in jail.

Under a serious crime prevention order, he will be restricted from traveling abroad and prohibited from using the phone, vehicles, and internet. 

Cannabis seized during a States of Jersey Police investigation that brought down a drugs plot controlled from Merseyside

A States of Jersey Police investigation that found a drug plot from Merseyside led to the seizure of cannabis.

Ms. Abbott described the measures to be an ‘extra layer of prevention’. She added that the measures “ensure we have these individuals on radar, especially once they are out of prison and any indications that they might be falling into old ways can quickly be detected.” 

Warren’s name was published by the NCA on a list that included individuals who were issued with serious crime prevention orders.

The order will be in effect for five years and will limit his ability to purchase cars and property, make transfers, borrow money, hold trusts, or share, and use virtual or foreign currency.

Breaking these conditions can result in further jail time.

Stephanie Smithwhite, 40, former prison officer at HMP Frankland

Stephanie Smithwhite, 40, was a former prison officer at HMP Frankland 

Warren, also known as “Cocky”, was a nightclub bouncer in the 1980s. He then moved on to armed robbery, and international drug trafficking in the 1990s.

After a drugs trial collapsed at Newcastle crown court in 1993, Warren reportedly told customs officers ‘I’m off to spend my £87million from the first shipment and you can’t f***ing touch me’.

Three years later he was sentenced to 12 years in jail for trying to move a £125million drugs shipment from the Netherlands to the UK.

Cemal Guclu, a Turkish prisoner, was killed in Nieuw Vosseveld’s maximum security jail. Warren had kicked him in his head. He said Guclu attacked him and it was self-defence, but had four years added to his sentence.

He was released in 2007 and sent back to Liverpool. However, he was re-arrested in Jersey within a matter of weeks. 

Warren closed the book, which he had been reading during proceedings, and was taken out of prison by guards. 

Last year, Stephanie Smithwhite, a prison officer, was sentenced to two-year imprisonment for misconduct in office. She admitted to having a sexual relationship in prison with Warren at Frankland jail.

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