Gang boss jailed for meth ring
File image. © Andrew Bardwell
The president of the Notorious Mongrel Mob chapter says he regrets getting other people – including his daughter and son – involved in the methamphetamine ring that has landed him an eight year two month jail term.
Paul Laxon’s defence counsel, Steve Hembrow, told the Christchurch District Court sentencing that the chapter was now “not active at all” and Laxon said the drugs ring was never a gang operation.
Mr Hembrow told Judge Raoul Neave: “He accepts sole responsibility for setting it up. It was to assist and feed his drug habit.”
Laxon – described by the Crown as the organiser and ringleader – now regretted getting other people involved, particularly his daughter who has already been sentenced, and his son who stood in the dock with him today.
The 60-year-old was one of three men sentenced today for their involvement in the crime ring which was busted in the police’s Operation Mule investigation.
Crown prosecutor Mark Zarifeh said Laxon could only expect minimal credit for his personal circumstances because the courts had held that they carried little weight in drugs cases.
Laxon had admitted 18 charges of supplying methamphetamine and one of possession for supply. St Albans 37-year-old Maynard Wickliffe pleaded guilty to six charges involving supply of 28g of the drug, and Thomas Paul Christopher Neil, 23, admitted supplying 15g. Neil is Laxon’s son.
Laxon had made six trips to Rotorua to buy bulk supplies of the class A drug, and was caught on the seventh trip with 96g. He would supply it to others who would supply it to the wider community.
Judge Neave said: “Methamphetamine is a particularly pernicious drug which has addictive qualities that are second to none and also has the incredible dangers of changes of personality which it inspires in users.”
The judge said it was reasonable to suppose that Laxon had brought a similar amount down from the Bay of Plenty each time.
Laxon was earlier stripped of his Harley Davidson motorcycle under the Proceeds of Crime Act, in a court action where dealing in drugs worth hundreds of thousands of dollars was alleged.
Counsel for Neil, Elizabeth Bulger, said he was not a drug user but had become involved for financial reasons. He had the least involvement of the three.
Mr Hembrow said Laxon became involved with drugs after the break-up of his relationship, and it had rapidly escalated. The financial cost of his intraveinous drug use could only be met by getting other income, or from product he was handling.
Judge Neave said Laxon had now been diagnosed in prison with a depressive illness. He had a bad record of drug offending, which meant an increase in his starting point for a prison term.
The judge jailed Laxon for eight years two months, jailed Wickliffe for two years seven months, and granted a one-year home detention term to Neil.
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