A SILSDEN pensioner is among three men jailed in Ireland for their roles in a calamitous £200 million trans-Atlantic cocaine smuggling plot.

John Powell, 70, of Airedale Mews, was handed ten years in jail for skippering the 62-foot yacht Makayabella, which was intercepted off the Irish coast last September laden down with 41 bales of the narcotics onboard.

Benjamin Mellor, 35, of Mornington Villas, Manningham, Bradford, and Thomas Britteon, 28, of Grimsby, were both sentenced to eight years each for their roles as “hired help” in the venture.

The trio pleaded guilty to two charges each of drug trafficking and importation.

Cork Circuit Court was told Powell’s son Stephen Powell, 48, of Netherfield Road, Guiseley, was a “major player” in the UK drugs underworld and the “main man by a step and a half” behind the operation.

He has already been sentenced to 16 years for conspiracy to import cocaine.

His father was to get £100,000 for his role.

He flew out to the Caribbean on March 6, 2013 to inspect the Makayabella, which his son had bought for the purpose of the smuggling venture.

He sailed it around the Caribbean for a year to provide a cover as a charter boat.

Powell was joined for most of the year by Mellor, who was also to be paid £100,000 for the trip.

They eventually picked up the 1,025 kilo cocaine consignment on August 4 in Venezuela.

The plot started to unravel when another vessel, known as the Sea Breeze, had to be rescued from the Irish Sea after it ran out of fuel.

Authorities became suspicious at the amount of food, diesel and other items on board.

Powell, who took up sailing after his wife died six years ago, was described as a jack of all trades who had been involved in a number of food businesses, mostly takeaways.

Both Mellor and Britteon were described as “simply hired help” but Powell fell into a different category as he had flown out to inspect the yacht and knew through his son about the whole plan.

Suffering from a number of medical conditions, his lawyers claimed the ten-year sentence would effectively be a life sentence for him.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain said it was a very significant crime that they all had knowingly involved themselves in.

But he said Powell was more involved and had more knowledge than the others and for this reason, he could not reduce his ten-year sentence.