Considered one of Australia’s most infamous corrupt cops has moved a step nearer to being launched from jail after being handed a decades-long sentence for a drug-supply plot.
Mark Standen, a former senior investigator on the NSW Crime Fee, was sentenced in 2011 to a most 22 years behind bars on a state cost of supplying prohibited medicine.
He plotted to import no less than 300kg of pseudoephedrine into Australia after changing into concerned in a conspiracy with an informant to smuggle the multimillion-dollar haul.
Standen can also be serving 18 years’ jail on a federal cost of conspiracy to import a big industrial amount of medication, with that time period expiring in June 2026.
A narcotics officer, Standen used his regulation enforcement experience to assist drug traffickers keep away from detection whereas importing pseudoephedrine, a precursor used to make methamphetamine.
On Friday, the NSW State Parole Authority granted Standen parole from June, however it famous this didn’t imply he would stroll free as he was nonetheless serving time on the federal cost.
“Whether or not the offender will, regardless of the authority’s orders, stay in custody in respect of the unexpired portion of the sentence imposed for the conspiracy offence, can be a matter for the commonwealth authorities,” authority chair Geoffrey Bellew mentioned in an announcement.
The authority’s determination got here after a severe offenders’ evaluation mentioned Standen’s launch on parole was “adequate for his re-integration and the safety of the general public”.
He had “constantly denied and minimised accountability for his offending”, a report famous, however had since “accepted the fact and penalties of his conviction”.
Standen appealed his conviction all the best way to the Excessive Court docket, however these bids have been rejected and he has been held in custody since 2008.
He had accomplished a regulation diploma whereas in custody and was thought of a low threat of reoffending as a result of that, his sturdy household assist and his lack of great psychological well being points, the parole authority famous.
Standen had a regulation enforcement profession from 1975 earlier than it was derailed by what a decide referred to as his “deep involvement” with unlawful medicine.
His case sparked an inquiry into the integrity of the secretive NSW Crime Fee, which probes murder, terrorism, severe drug offences and cash laundering.
