Top Birmingham golfer Matthew Feavyour jailed for smuggling drugs into Birmingham

A TOP Birmingham golfer has been jailed for six years for helping to smuggle hundreds of thousands of pounds of drugs into the Midlands.

Matthew Feavyour, once tipped for international stardom, was sent to prison with two others for trafficking cannabis from Holland and using their ill-gotten gains to fund a champagne lifestyle.

The 29-year-old, from Primrose Lane, Hall Green, was arrested as he teed off on the 18th hole at Kings Norton Golf Club.

And when detectives raided his home they discovered three of the rooms had been converted into a cannabis factory.

There were so many plants at the house that Feavyour had to climb over them to get to the toilet.

The golfer was jailed along with Gary Moore, 52, of Whitefields Road, Solihull, who was sentenced to six-and-a-half years and Andrew Rickard, 45, of Cole Valley Road, Hall Green, who got four years in prison.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that the gang smuggled the drugs into Britain by hiding them in air conditioning units.

And, as well as running cannabis factories from their homes, they stored some of the drugs in a haulage depot in Monkspath, Solihull.

A warehouse in Tyseley was also used in their criminal enterprise, which they ran under the guise of a legitimate company.

Officers found £270,000 worth of cannabis at the unit.

The trio admitted conspiracy to supply cannabis last year.

Moore and Feavyour previously pleaded guilty to producing cannabis.

Michael Duck, prosecuting, said in October 2008 two companies had been set up, with Feavyour named as the director to give a “veneer of legitimacy” to the operation.

Meanwhile Rickard organised the lease of a warehouse in Tyseley.

He told Birmingham Crown Court that Moore had ordered the manufacture of air conditioning units with hollow panels, where the cannabis could be hidden while transporting it from Holland.

Police, suspicious about activities at the Monkspath depot, searched three pallets and found 380 bars of cannabis resin weighing 94.8kg.

Mr Duck said police set up a trap to catch the gang by substituting part of a load for sand and swooped as Rickard attempted to pick it up.

He had “driven quite literally into their trap”. At Moore’s home, officers found a mini cannabis factory in his loft.

In Rickard’s garage they found rivets connected with the units of a previous load.

John Evans, defending Feavyour, said he had ambitions to become a professional golfer but added: “Any lingering hope of a professional career would be dashed as a result of his incarceration.”

Patrick Duffy, defending Rickard, said he worked as a haulier and had transported the drugs but had minimal knowledge of what was going on.

Sentence the trio, Judge Mooncey said it had been a clever and sophisticated criminal enterprise.

Source: http://www.birminghammail.net/news/birmingham-news/2010/02/08/top-birmingham-golfer-matthew-feavyour-jailed-for-smuggling-drugs-into-birmingham-97319-25783865/