Top cop Standen given 22 years for drug plot

Former crime investigator Mark Standen has been handed a maximum sentence of 22 years in jail for conspiring to import $120 million worth of drugs.

The former assistant director of the New South Wales Crime Commission sat dressed in prison greens as he faced his fate in the New South Wales Supreme Court this morning.
He smiled at family members in the public gallery as he entered the dock.
But there was no reaction from Standen as Justice Bruce James sentenced him to 22 years in jail.
He will be eligible for parole after 16 years.
During a five-month trial the court heard Standen helped former informant James Henry Kinch and food importer Bakhos Jalalaty import pseudoephedrine in a shipment of rice from Pakistan.
The 54-year-old was also found guilty in August of supplying drugs and using his knowledge as one of the country's most senior investigators to pervert the course of justice.
Crown prosecutor Tim Game SC said Standen was involved in importing at least 300 kilograms of the ingredient, which is used to make the drugs speed and ice.
Justice James told the court today Standen used inside knowledge gained during his 30 years in law enforcement to commit the crimes and was "deeply involved in the criminal conspiracy".
Before his role with the Crime Commission Standen also worked for the Australian Federal Police and Customs.
During the trial the jury heard intercepted phone calls showing Standen was "desperate for money" because he had spent beyond his means.
The prosecution said Standen was "deeply, deeply involved" in the drug importation plot and not just "playing along" with it as he claimed.
The jury of six men and five women sat through almost 100 days of evidence during the trial.
Justice James told the court today that Standen communicated with his two accomplices using pseudonyms, which were mostly female names.
He said the code names included Myrtle, JoJo and Maurice.
Standen has already spend three years behind bars, having been held in custody since his arrest in June 2008.
Justice James noted Standen is being held in onerous conditions in near isolation because of his former police work.
@'ABC'