Cocaine trio appeal convictions

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Three men jailed for a total of 85 years after 440m euros of cocaine was seized off the Cork coast are appealing their convictions and sentences.

Perry Wharrie, 48, Martin Wanden, 45, and Joe Daly, 41, who are all from England, were convicted last month of having the drugs in July 2007.

The 1.5 tonnes of cocaine was seized after a failed attempt to land it near Mizen Head.

Wanden and Wharrie were both sentenced to 30 years. Daly was given 25 years.

They were convicted by unanimous verdict by a jury of nine men and two women who spent more than seven hours considering evidence from 300 witnesses.

The trio were arrested after their boat capsized.

During the 42-day trial, the court heard "some idiot" had put diesel into the engine instead of petrol.

On 2 July last year, a stranger ran into a farmhouse near Mizen Head looking for help for a companion with whom he had been fishing, he claimed, when their boat overturned in rough seas.

The farmer called the emergency services who saved the man's life, but they also recovered 61 suspicious packages floating in the water around the upturned rigid inflatable boat.

Sentencing them last month, Judge Sean O'Donnabhain noted that none of them was addicted to drugs but that they were dedicated to criminal activity.

A fourth English man, Gerard Hagan, pleaded guilty at the start of the trial and was remanded in custody for sentencing in November.