While Robert 'Europe's biggest drug dealer' Dawes is serving a sentence in France related to the seizure of 1.3 tonnes of cocaine, his brother John is out of prison.

http://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/former-drugs-lord-john-dawes-414469

Suspected British drug lord goes on trial in Paris

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/09/suspected-british-drug-lord-goes-trial-paris/

Profile of British drug boss Robert “The Voice” Dawes - “He was prepared to use extreme levels of violence” http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profil...oss-robert-the-voice-dawes-he-was-prepar

The appeal trial of Robert Dawes, presented as one of the biggest drug traffickers in Europe, opened on Monday in Paris.

https://www.web24.news/u/2020/07/ro...head-of-the-network-tried-on-appeal.html

British drug criminal Robert Dawes (48) was sentenced to 22 years in prison on appeal in Paris on Friday. This is in accordance with the sentence imposed on him in December 2018 . Dawes has been found guilty of smuggling 1,300 kilos of cocaine again. The Public Prosecution Service in Holland has asked for his extradition because of the murder of the innocent Gerard Meesters in 2002.

A British crime clan, active in Spain, was looking for the sister of Meesters who would have stolen over 1,000 kilos of hashish from that organization. The shooter Daniel S. eventually got a life sentence, but Dawes was never prosecuted for this. In the Netherlands, Dawes worked together with criminal Gwenette Martha.

Prosecutors in the Netherlands have called for a life sentence to be handed out to a man who is on trial for ordering a murder 22 years ago.

British drug smuggler Robert Dawes was charged three years ago with ordering the murder of Gerard Meesters, who was shot dead outside his home in Groningen in 2002.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8dm09vln93o

Praise for relatives of murdered Gerard Meesters: 'I have never seen anything like this before'
09 Jan.

Gerard Meesters was an innocent teacher, but was murdered in 2002 by a British criminal gang. The murderer has been in prison since 2005, but the possible client is now on trial facing a life sentence. Robert Dawes will appear in court on Friday. Children Koen and Annemarie tell in Nieuws van de Dag about their fight to bring the client of their father's murder to justice.

January 10, 2025
British client Robert Dawes sentenced to life for murder of Gerard Meesters

The court in Groningen on Friday sentenced 52-year-old Robert Dawes from Nottingham to life imprisonment for ordering the murder of Gerard Meesters in 2002. Meesters (52) was shot dead in the doorway of his home on Uranusstraat in Groningen. 'Ordering the murder of an innocent person is evidence of unprecedented cruelty', according to the court. 'Tapped conversations show that the aim of Meesters' murder was to set an example.'

Large batch of hash
Gerard Meesters was liquidated because members of Robert Dawes' criminal organization believed that his sister Jeanette and a friend of hers had stolen 1,150 kilos of hashish from the group. On November 24, 2002, five men stood at Meesters' door. Three of them are big names in the Dutch underworld and have since died: Gwenette Martha, his cousin Dennis Mongen and Etous Belserang. The other two men are Daniel Sowerby and Steven Barnes from England.

Spanish number
Meesters is told to call a Spanish number to tell them where his sister is. If he doesn't, the men return, but this time not to talk. Meesters calls the number. Only half a conversation is established. He has no idea where his sister is. After the conversation, he calls the police. He suspects that the threat has to do with his sister embezzling money or drugs. Apart from that, he, like the police at the time, has no idea. On 28 November 2002, Daniel Sowerby and Steven Barnes return to the house in the Uranusstraat and Sowerby shoots the innocent teacher Gerard Meesters dead.

Life sentence for shooter
British gunman Daniel Sowerby was sentenced to life in prison in 2005. His driver Steven Barnes was sentenced to eight years for complicity. The three Dutch criminals received milder prison sentences. However, the person who ordered the murder remained out of the picture for a long time. The Court of Appeal ruled in 2006 that the murder had been committed on the orders of the organisation.

Statements
Daniel Sowerby did not know Meesters and had no personal motive or interest in killing him. The statements of convicted driver Steven Barnes also showed that Sowerby had already said at the time that he should have committed the murder. The seriously ill Sowerby admitted many years after the murder that he had participated in the search for Meesters' sister and her friend on behalf of Robert Dawes.

For example, on the orders of British drug lord Robert Dawes, he threatened Gerard Meesters and a few days later, also on the orders of Dawes, he searched for a newspaper article about the murder and used it to write a threatening letter that was sent to the mother of the other woman, to put her under pressure as well. According to the court, Sowerby's statements are supported by the statements of other people involved and in wiretapped conversations.

Client
According to the court, the file also shows that Robert Dawes had an interest in the stolen drugs and therefore in tracking down Meesters' sister and her friend. 'He actively and intensively involved himself in the search for both women, both in Spain and in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, he used Sowerby, among others, for this purpose. In the opinion of the court, it can therefore be established beyond reasonable doubt that the suspect was the one who ordered the murder of Meesters.'

Only lifelong fit
The court, like the Public Prosecution Service, is of the opinion that only life imprisonment is a fitting punishment for Dawes. 'Ordering the murder of an innocent person is evidence of unprecedented cruelty. Wiretapped conversations show that the purpose of murdering Meesters was to set an example. The murder therefore not only caused intense suffering to the surviving relatives, but also constituted an exceptionally serious breach of the rule of law. After all, the message that had to be conveyed with the murder was that no one, innocent or not, is safe if the interests of the suspect are harmed.'

1.3 tons of coke
Robert Dawes was questioned in Paris in December 2020 about his role in the murder and was later extradited from France to the Netherlands. Dawes was held in France where he was sentenced to 22 years in prison for importing 1,300 kilos of cocaine via Paris' Roissy airport. The drugs came from Venezuela and were packed in 31 suitcases. Dawes has been in custody since 2015.

He is considered one of the biggest drug lords in Europe and worked in the Netherlands with Gwenette Martha, who was liquidated in 2014.

Colin Gunn, John Dawes and Mark Martin - The stories behind Nottingham's most notorious criminals
These are the faces of some of Nottingham's most notorious criminals who all received lengthy jail terms for their crimes

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news...n-john-dawes-mark-9826005?int_source=nba

Proper link:

Profile of British drug boss Robert “The Voice” Dawes – “He was prepared to use extreme levels of violence” https://gangstersinc.org/2018/12/23...pared-to-use-extreme-levels-of-violence/

Robert Dawes had major Connections among them the Cartel of the Suns.