The wife of a convicted cocaine smuggler is trying to avoid jail time, for her part in the affair, by insisting that the money used to buy the yacht transporting the drugs came from her husband’s poker winnings.

The wife of a jailed drug smuggler has told a UK court how she believed his money came from selling cars and playing poker.

Dawne Powell is on trial at Leeds Crown Court where she is desperately trying to clear her name of the charge of conspiracy to import cocaine. Her husband, Stephen Powell, his father John Powell, and four other associates, have already pleaded guilty to the same charges.

This whole sorry mess came to light after a yacht used to transport cocaine from Venezuela to the UK ran out of fuel 200-miles off the south west coast of Ireland. A joint task force comprising of the Irish Naval Service and National Crime Agency boarded the yacht, named Makayabella, and found 1,025 1kg blocks of cocaine with a street value of £160 million.