Drug dealer Peter Kane was “living the high life in Holland”, driving around in a convertible E class Mercedes and holidaying in Ibiza
Peter Kane
A drugs kingpin who made a small fortune supplying heroin from Liverpool to the south of England has had his appeal for release thrown out by the parole board. Peter Joseph Kane, 39, from Toxteth, was locked up for 14 years at Bristol Crown Court in October 2015 after being convicted of conspiracy to supply heroin.
He was said to be at the heart of three seizures of heroin totalling 3.7kg. He fled the UK for the Netherlands in December 2013, and remained there until October 2014, when he was arrested by Dutch police. His address in Amsterdam was searched, and a loaded revolver and ammunition were found concealed in the cellar.
At a subsequent hearing, a court found the value of Kane’s illegal dealings totalled £317,822.69. In his ruling on April 2017, the judge found that Kane had been heavily involved in large scale drug supply after fleeing the UK in December 2013.
He “unreservedly” rejected Kane’s account that he had merely been working for others to pay off a debt. In fact, Kane was “operating a very profitable enterprise in cannabis dealing, and living the high life in Holland”, driving around in a convertible E class Mercedes and holidaying in Ibiza.
His original release date was June 2022, however he was ordered to serve two more years in prison in place of a confiscation order. He was eventually released on licence in January 2023, and was recalled the following month after repeatedly breaching his licence conditions.
Kane challenged the lawfulness of his recall, but this was rejected by the High Court in August 2023 due to his risk of serious harm to the public, previous failure to comply with restrictions, and flight risk.
He applied for parole in June 2024, but this was denied by the Parole Board. The Panel said: “Mr Kane also does not demonstrate anything like full acceptance of responsibility for his index offence and a range of his previous offences.
“The account given by Mr Kane of his involvement puts him at a much lower level of criminal responsibility than the trial judge found. Nor does Mr Kane’s account fit in with the very large confiscation order made by the court in respect of the index offence and his previous offending. The trial judge declared Mr Kane to be a wholly unreliable and unconvincing witness
“With regard to the events following Mr Kane’s travel to the Netherlands… he was rapidly involved in cannabis dealing in that country.
“He lived in luxurious accommodation, he drove an expensive car (registered, as was his custom, in someone else’s name), which he took to Ibiza for a prolonged and expensive stay.
“The panel has seen an extract from a letter Mr Kane wrote to a friend (and accomplice) boasting of how well he was living in the Netherlands, and of sitting in Ibiza for three months of the year as well.
“The panel is satisfied on the evidence that Mr Kane, while in the Netherlands, continued to live in the style of a successful drug-dealer at an organisational level, well above the street distribution that Mr Kane would suggest.”
Kane applied for a judicial review to challenge the Parole Board’s decision.
A substantive application for judicial review was made to deputy High Court judge Alice Robinson, with a hearing dated March 27 this year.
On hearing all the evidence, in a judgment handed down remotely on Tuesday, June 2024, the judge denied the application, meaning Kane must remain behind bars.