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The long road to freedom

Leeds Today | June 21, 2004 | Grant Woodward

Leeds trucker Paul Watson is enjoying his first taste of freedom, having spent nine months in a French cell after a ton of cannabis was found in the load he was carrying. GRANT WOODWARD travelled to France to hear his story.

STANDING in the rolling fields of northern France, his arms wrapped tight around his fiancee, Paul Watson draws in a deep breath.

"That fresh air is fantastic," he says, a smile spreading quickly across his face.

Any English visitor to the picturesque village of Amplier, in the lush Pas de Calais region, would be struck by its charm and tranquillity – but Paul has more reason than most to appreciate the surroundings.

Today is his first full day of freedom after nine months of being holed up in a hellish French jail for a crime he is adamant he didn't commit.
During those nine, long months, the Morley man received death threats from fellow prisoners and had to share a cramped cell with drug dealers and murderers.

Horrific

The experience was so horrific for the mild-mannered 39-year-old that he considered killing himself.

"In the early days I did," he says, matter-of-factly. "I was an innocent person who had been thrown into a hostile environment after being put through two-and-a-half days of interrogation. I was being treated like I was nothing.

"I was put into an eight foot by 15 foot cell with two other men, the food was inedible and I was getting death threats.

"It has just been a nightmare from start to finish. But I suppose you either go down or you keep fighting."

As first revealed in the YEP last year Paul's ordeal began after he jetted out to Spain in September to buy a lorry cab from a fellow haulier he knew from previous contracts.

He says he met up with the man at a Spanish service station, but there was a surprise in store.

"He said his driver was stuck in Belgium and there was a trailer with 24 pallets of pottery that needed to be taken to Halifax," Paul recalls.
"I agreed to take it as far as San Sebastian in Spain because in the haulage industry you help each other out. If you are struggling with a load there is always a contact who will help you out and vice versa, that's the way it works.

"I checked the documentation and the handling agent was a big company that I had previously done work for so I had no problem doing what I was doing."

Paul insists he had no inkling that concealed among the cartons of pottery in the trailer was a ton of cannabis.

"You can't go through the stuff because there isn't time and the customer will just reject it when it is delivered to them," he says. "As a haulier you get the documents for the load and you take it from A to B.

"If this fella had said there was cannabis in there I would have told him to stuff his tractor unit and I'd have been on the first plane out of there."
Along his route, Paul fielded numerous phone calls.

"The guy was on the phone all the time seeing if I was alright. Now I know why. Eventually he told me the driver had disappeared and the customer wanted the load delivered to premises in Ghent in Belgium.

"I just wanted rid of this trailer by this stage. My customers were ringing me and I wanted to get home."

But as he drove through the French town of Arras, Paul suddenly found two cars of customs officials behind and in front of his lorry. They shepherded him into a service area where they started cutting the boxes of pottery open.
"They found one box of cannabis and I was mobbed. They threw me to the ground and put me in handcuffs. One of the customs men said 'sniff this'. I asked what it was and he said cannabis – I just couldn't believe it."

Handcuffed

Paul was told to drive to the customs depot. where he was handcuffed to his trailer and photographed by the press. He was told it was the biggest drugs seizure ever made in Arras.

"I was in bits," he says. "I couldn't believe what this guy had done to me. I was told the drugs were worth 10m euros, although I don't know whether that's correct or not."

Paul was quizzed before being thrown into the remand centre at Arras where he was told by fellow English prisoners that his arrest had even been shown on the TV news.

Back home in Leeds, his fiancee, Sarah Wilson, was frantic with worry when she couldn't reach him. She eventually called West Yorkshire police and was shocked when they relayed the news of his arrest.

Paul describes himself as being like a "startled rabbit" during his first few months in the jail. Sarah made weekend visits but the couple soon lost their home and business as Paul languished in custody.

He could apply for bail every four months, but his first two applications were rejected along with a subsequent appeal.

When he appealed for a second time last Thursday, Paul was told he could be freed as long as he stayed at the address he had given to the courts – the home of English couple Andrew and Jayne Knight.

"I slept unbelievably well the first night here," he says, sitting at their kitchen table, early evening sunlight streaming in through the window.

"Although it was only when I woke up and there was no bunk bed above me that I knew I was really out."

Paul must stay in France until he is cleared or a case against him goes ahead.
He still has yet to be charged with any offence.

For the moment he is unable to look too far beyond proving his innocence, acknowledging there is still the possibility he could find himself back in prison.
However, he is certain of one thing: his future doesn't lie in the haulage business anymore.

"I can't ever have the responsibility in my mind of sending one of my drivers abroad with a load because these days who knows what could happen to them. I couldn't live with that."

During his months in prison, Paul started to write a book about his experiences.

He now has thoughts of publishing it to highlight the plight of the many other British truckers in the same position.

Then there is the small matter of his 40th birthday on July 3 which he will be celebrating with Sarah, his biggest supporter while in jail.

"If it hadn't been for Sarah I wouldn't be sat here," says Paul, his voice breaking. "She has been an angel, a diamond... everything.

"There are so many others who have helped as well – my family, the media back in England and the MPs. The people from the organisation Fair Trials Abroad have been unbelievable and people we don't even know have been sending Sarah money so she can visit me.

"When this is over I would like to help people who are in this situation because innocent people are being locked up and no one seems to care."

Priority

Paul says his first priority is to clear his name.

"I want to stay here because I am an innocent man and I want to prove it. I intend to see this through and it could be six months before I know what's going to happen."

Paul suddenly turns to Sarah and smiles.

"Me and Sarah have put together a five-year plan to get our lives back on track," he says. "And after all this is over we are going to get married.

"Before this happened we were so engrossed in our work that we almost lived separate lives, but things will be very different after all this. I love her more than ever."

grant.woodward@ypn.co.uk

[Suetaznote: All this over cannabis...]

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Cassius

A sad story, in multiple ways. Mostly it's sad because I don't see how customs could have handled it differently, and I don't see how he could have handled it differently. He was the only one customs had in custody, and he undoubtedly couldn't get them anyone else, so who else were they to hold and charge? Besides that, almost every criminal protests their innocence, so it's not difficult to understand why they didn't necessarily take him at his word. At the same time, he's right -- in the transportation business, the driver doesn't inspect every load personally, you just deliver it.

The situation seemed almost unavoidable. Perhaps if he had noticed the warning signs and become a little more suspicious, he might have inspected the cargo before transporting it. Perhaps he should have inspected it anyway since it wasn't HIS load, he was delivering it for someone else. That would probably have been the best idea, but I can easily see why it didn't happen.

I don't really think this is a very good example for why prohibition is wrong, though, because this same situation could have happened with any illegal substance. Cocaine, heroine, etc. Doesn't mean those should be legalized.

I guess bottom line, the driver should have covered his own ass by being a little more suspicious, since it wasn't his load. But his mistake could have happened to anyone, he's right in that you help other people out in the industry as favors so they can help you when you're in a pinch. But oh what a price he paid for such a small error.