SOCCER HOOLIGAN RAN DRUGS OPERATION FROM FRENCH CELL

JAMES SHAYLER, the soccer hooligan whose bare-chested image came to
epitomise the brutish behaviour of English fans at the World Cup in France
last year, was jailed yesterday on drugs charges.

The 34-year-old father of three was sentenced to seven and a half years for
conspiracy to supply cocaine after police discovered letters he wrote from a
French prison giving details of drug debts to be collected. Detectives who
have investigated Shayler's finances believe that his deals ran into
thousands and a separate hearing will decide on whether, and by how much,
his drugs earnings will be confiscated.

The unemployed labourer, from Wellingborough, Northants, was arrested after
England's match against Tunisia in Marseilles for throwing a CS gas canister
back at riot police. His picture, shaven-headed and tattooed as he was led
away by French police, was carried in newspapers and on television screens
all over Europe, to the embarrassment of the British government and the
Football Association.

Jailed for two months by the French courts, he was then arrested at Gatwick
on his return to England by British detectives who had been gathering
evidence on his drug-peddling operation. Shayler admitted his guilt at
Northampton Crown Court yesterday.

What sealed his fate, the court was told, was his concern for the wellbeing
of girlfriend, Maria Yeo. To ensure that she had money, he wrote a series of
letters to a friend in England, Terry Williams, instructing him to supervise
the collection of drug debts. He indicated that he had asked other members
of his gang, Alan Betts (known as Betsy), Jason McMaster (Macca) and Mark
Cooper (Coops), to pay money they owed to Miss Yeo.

Shayler wrote: "I am just asking if would you please help keeping an eye on
him because it comes to a lot of money. Macca, Coops and Betsy owe about
pounds 5,000 between them. I know Maria will be looked after. There is no
one else I can ask to look after her apart from you."

William Harbage, prosecuting, told the court that Shayler was at the head of
a drug-dealing conspiracy "even to the extent of trying to control matters
from his prison cell in France". The extent of the conspiracy was hard to
measure, said Mr Harbage, but it continued from November 1997 to July 1998
and ran into "thousands rather than hundreds" of pounds.

Detectives had found Shayler's debt list, the court was told. It denoted all
his customers with their initials, amounts and ticks by their names
indicating whether they had paid for their supplies.

Betts, 26, a roofer, was jailed for five years for conspiracy to supply
cocaine. Williams, 54, who ran his own paper recycling business, admitted
assisting a person involved in drug trafficking and was sentenced to two years.

McMaster, 24, a roofer, and Cooper, 23, a trainee electrician, admitted
collecting money from drug trafficking and were each jailed for 12 months.
All are from Wellingborough. Charges against Miss Yeo were dropped by the
Crown Prosecution Service.