Money launderer who swore at judge comes back to court to say sorry

A money launderer who shouted abuse at a judge as he was sent to prison returned to the dock and apologised – and wished the judge a Happy Christmas. Robert Norris was sent down last week for laundering £128,000 of criminally acquired cash but became disruptive and abusive in the dock as the sentence was handed down.

The judge ordered Norris to return to the dock of Swansea Crown Court to face contempt proceedings this week where the defendant issued an apology. The judge accepted the apology and said he would take no further action – and said he had some good news for the defendant.

On Friday Norris was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison for possession of criminal property. The court heard the defendant came to the attention of police in May, 2021, after masked men robbed a van at Dyfatty traffic lights in Swansea. The robbers used crow bars to smash the windows of the van and stole a bag from the passenger before speeding off in a waiting car. It later emerged that the van was belonged to an organised crime group involved in the drugs trade and the stolen bag contained £106,000 in cash which members of the London-based gang had just collected after dropping off a consignment of 3kg of cocaine in Swansea.

The robbery led police to launch Operation Tilbury which resulted in the gang being taken down – you can read about Operation Tilbury here. One of the masked robbers was subsequently identified, charged, convicted and jailed. That man was Jonathan Norris, the brother of the defendant Robert Norris. Jonathan Norris was sentenced to nine years in prison for his part in what the judge called an “audacious” robbery.

Following the robbery, police began examining the finances of Robert Norris and discovered a “spate” of cash deposits into his bank accounts immediately after the Dyfatty incident. The court heard that investigators looked through six years of the defendant’s financial dealings and identified around a quarter-of-a-million pounds in unexplained deposits which were of interest but that, by the defendant’s pleas, it was accepted that the actual figure for sentencing purposes was £128,000.

Robert Norris, aged 42, of Neath Road, Plasmarl, Swansea, was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison. The defendant was disruptive in the dock as the sentence was handed down and started being abusive, including shouting “They are all corrupt b******* like this f****** lot”.

Returning to the dock this week Norris said he had been “upset and angry” on Friday and had not expected the sentence he received. He said he “lashed out” and wanted to apologise to the court for the offence he caused. Judge Paul Thomas KC said he accepted the “fulsome apology” and as a result would not impose any additional custodial sentence. The judge said he had some good news for the defendant – he said a miscalculation of the discount which was applicable to the sentence meant the sentence should have been one of four years and five months not four years and nine months. Going back down to the cells Norris said: “Merry Christmas”.

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