Convicted Killer Plots to Free Drug Gang From Behind Bars
A lifer locked up for murder has cooked up an elaborate scheme to help his criminal pals dodge decades behind bars for a £45million MDMA smuggling caper.
The Prison Mastermind Pulling the Strings
William Todd, 61, has spent 21 years serving two life sentences. Yet inside prison walls, he masterminded a plot to get drug smugglers Danny Brown, 58, Stefan Baldauf, 66, and four others off the hook. The gang were busted trying to sneak 448kg of MDMA hidden inside an industrial digger’s arm destined for Australia.
Brown and Baldauf were slammed with hefty sentences of 26 and 28 years respectively in December 2022, after a tense National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.
Jury Tampering Rumours Spark Fake Scandal
During the June 2022 trial at Kingston Crown Court, claims of jury tampering shook proceedings. Rumours said five jurors were bribed to deliver guilty verdicts.
The judge stopped the trial for the NCA’s Anti-Corruption Unit to probe. But it soon emerged two jurors named had actually been discharged months earlier. The trial pushed on, exposing the claims as false.
Secret Spying, Fake Calls and a Forged Passport
Court CCTV caught an unknown man slipping in during jury swearing-in, then making a quick exit. He was Danny Thomas, 46, from Reading, who secretly recorded jurors’ names on Todd’s orders.
After failing to sabotage the trial the first time, Todd and Thomas enlisted Sheree Avard, 41, from Woking. Posing as “Ioana Andrei”, Avard phoned Brown’s lawyer pretending a juror confessed to coercion. When the plot started unravelling, they forged a fake passport and bribed a Romanian woman and solicitor to back a false statement.
Busted at Heathrow and Handed Prison Time
Thomas was nabbed at Heathrow arriving from Dubai in November 2022. Police found a phone packed with incriminating calls, texts, and Todd’s secret “Ari Gold” number saved like a TV character’s.
Both Thomas and Avard copped to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. At Southwark Crown Court, Thomas was jailed for three years and four months, Avard got one year.
Todd, once famous for a daring 2001 prison escape, was convicted of the same charge and added seven more years behind bars. His criminal empire inside prison shows no sign of crumbling anytime soon.
