Furious: Dean Ash, 40, was arrested but found not guilty of drugs smuggling but says the Home Office damaged his plane
The former bodyguard to the stars including Rihanna is suing the Home Office after they left his private plane unable to fly after a bungled search for drugs.
Dean Ash, 40, was accused of trying to smuggle a £1million worth of cocaine and ecstasy when he plane was searched by border control officials after landing in the UK from Amsterdam in October 2015.
The South African born amateur pilot from Acton, West London was on his way back to the UK from a business meeting in Amsterdam, where he’d been trying to set up an international Mixed Martial Arts tournament, when he was arrested by customs officers.
No drugs were found on his aircraft but a bag was found in a bush near the hangar with seven kilos of drugs.
Mr Ash was arrested on suspicion of illegally importing the drugs with intent to distribute, his aircraft was seized and the investigation handed over to the National Crime Agency.
However once the case went to trial, 17 months later, it took a jury at Leeds Crown Court just five hours to find him not guilty on all charges.
But when he tried to get his plane back the celebrity sportsman found more than £78,000 worth of damage had been caused to the £150,000 PA28 Piper Dakota while in the ‘safe keeping’ of the Border Force and Home Office, making it totally unusable.
‘Safe keeping’: Mr Ash, who was found not guilty of smuggling drugs, was subjected to a 17 month ordeal where his plane (pictured above) was taken from him and his business and reputation left in tatters
Damaged: The celebrity security guard claims more than £78,000 worth of damage had been caused to the £150,000 PA28 Piper Dakota
Unusable: Mr Ash said the aircraft, kept in the ‘safe keeping’ of the Border Force and Home Office, is now not safe to drive because the extent of the damage
Border Force staff, investigating potential traffickers suspected of using rural airports to smuggle drugs into the country, swooped on his plane within 10 minutes of it landing at its home base of Bagby airfield near Thirsk in West Yorkshire on 18 October 2015.
He said: ‘I was arrested and locked up for months awaiting trial for something I didn’t do.
‘There was never any forensic evidence linking me to the drugs and the first time I ever saw the bag they were found in was when it was produced in court. It didn’t take long for a jury to throw out the case but the damage was done.
‘My reputation was shattered, my business destroyed and my aircraft trashed. I don’t expect an apology for being wrongfully accused as I’m well aware that’s not how the authorities work but I would like my plane returned in the same condition it was when they took it.’
Following publicity surrounding his arrest his career as a full-time body builder, bodyguard, model and celebrity personal trainer has suffered
Moving on: Only now Mr Ash said he is beginning to slowly rebuild his life
Mr Ash said: ‘Nobody wants to take responsibility and they’ve tried to get me to accept it as it is. But what use is a plane that can’t fly and can’t be sold because of the damage caused while the authorities were supposed to be storing it. I’ve been left with no choice but to go to court and sue for the cost of repairs.’
A report from an independent engineer sent by Mr Ash to view the aircraft at the Home Office facility said an initial inspection ‘showed that it was stored with little protection in an area with a large number of pigeons’ and that ‘there is evidence of some damage caused by the transportation and storage’.
In addition to deterioration to the engine the experts found a cracked window along with breakage to the rudder, nose gear and starboard wing.
Following publicity surrounding his arrest his career as a full-time body builder, bodyguard, model and celebrity personal trainer has suffered. Only now is he beginning to slowly rebuild his life.
‘The authorities were very happy to tell everyone about my arrest but have been very quiet about my acquittal of all the charges. Now, to add insult to injury, they want me to pay for the needless damage they caused to my plane,’ he said.
‘So far the Home Office have only said they will put the wings back on but that’s all. They’ve asked for evidence of what condition the plane was in before they took it and I’ve sent them photographs and an engineer’s report saying it’s no longer airworthy although it clearly was before they took it because I was flying it.’