Eamon Dillon

Well, I think it was the fact, I suppose if you're used to that kind of money, if you're working as a military contractor in Baghdad or wherever, you know, with a former military background, I mean, it wouldn't be unusual to be getting paid three grand or four grand a week.

So you're not going to make that kind of money when you return home to Scotland or Ireland without any, you know, necessary skills.

I mean, to make three grand a week, you're,

You know, you want to be fairly decent at something like, you know, other than, you know, than I suppose acting as a soldier, whether in a private capacity or for your country.

So, I mean, he was basically he was struggling.

And I think that's also kind of seen in some of the other guys who were recruited as part of the landing crew.

So we had a fisherman from Derry, Connor Costolo, 31 year old.

He struggled with drinks and drugs.

Sorry, drugs and drink from a young age.

And he left school early and he made a fairly precarious living on trawlers.

There wouldn't be great financial stability, you know, whether you're going to be taking on him for a crew.

And he didn't turn down an offer when, you know, an opportunity, you know, came up to take part in this escapade.

And then you had another Scottish man, also from Glasgow, the same as Gary Monks, Ryan Watson, 32-year-old.

He had some knowledge of boats, but he also had a 10 grand drug debt, which made him, I suppose, a perfect fit for the crew in that regard.

Right.

None of them had anything in the background that would suggest they were going to get involved in what was clearly a highly organized, highly sophisticated international drug smuggling plot.

Yeah, like all of these, all seven of these guys had, you know, a work history, which is, you know, I suppose to a lot of listeners, it's kind of so hot.

But when you sit in court a lot, especially in criminal courts, having a work history is sometimes unusual.

And it's touted like, you know, it's put out there as something to be taken in consideration that here was a person who was once a useful member of society.

Don't lose sight of that when you're going to lock him up, judge.