EXCLUSIVE
Grandad Barry Calverley dabbed away tears as he made a last-ditch bid for bail over heroin smuggling charges as his health suffers in jail.
The 68-year-old Perth mining industry expert appeared via video from Wellington prison in the NSW Central West with his head bowed and his face mostly out of view at the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Justice Belinda Rigg SC heard Calverley – who has a wife of 31 years, a country estate, three successful daughters and a mining career spanning decades – has had medical episodes while behind bars.
Calverley was arrested at Sydney International Airport on January 24 with a green bag allegedly stashed with drugs when he flew back from Laos via Hanoi, Vietnam.
Australian Border Force officers allegedly found 5kg of heroin, which currently has an an estimated street value of between $2.5million and $3million.
He was charged with importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, which Australian Federal Police said was a ‘quantity of heroin (which) would have been enough for 25,000 street deals’.
Calverley has been in custody since that afternoon, locked in a cell in the maximum security Macquarie Correctional Centre at Wuuluman, 350km northwest of Sydney.
The Western Australian mining safety consultant had never been in custody before, his lawyer Phillip Ryan said, had hearing difficulties and has had cardiac and gastro-intestinal issues while in jail.
Barry Calverley, above with daughter Harriet and wife Jocelyn, was a well-respected mining industry consultant with a country estate who now is locked up in a jail cell on drug importation charges which carry a penalty of life imprisonment
His daughter Harriet flew in from Perth to collect her father from prison and accompany him back to WA if he was granted release.
Calverley’s wife of three decades had sent a support letter, and ‘someone of his age and health’ would be optimally cared for in the community, Mr Ryan said.
Mr Ryan argued his client would have a ‘very structured’ plan in the lead up to his trial next year.
Slumped forward on the chair in the prison video booth, with little visible other than his white hair and prison green sweatshirt, he did not look up again until Commonwealth DPP prosecutor Bethany Debenham opposed his bail.
Describing Calverley as ‘an unacceptable risk’ whose bail could not be supervised by WA Police, Ms Debenham said the case against him was strong ‘and the prospect of conviction is likely’.
Border Force officers allege that Barry Calverley imported this camping chair bag containing 5kg of heroin into Customs at Sydney International Airport on January 24 this year
Calverley, who has worked in India, Singapore and West Africa on gas and oil projects for resources giants Shell, Exxon Mobil, BHP and Santos, is believed to have flown from Perth to South East Asia during the third week of January this year.
He left WA – where he has worked on sites such as in the Pilbara for up to $2,000 a day – allegedly on the promise of an $11million payment to bring ‘a little gift’ into Australia from Laos, an earlier bail hearing was told.
Downing Centre Local Court heard in May that Calverley arranged in a WhatsApp message to travel to Laos and meet a man called ‘Privham’ in a hotel to collect documents.
When he was asked to take a green camping chair bag along with an envelope back to Australia, a court heard he was ‘suspicious’ and ‘was aware something was not right’.
His lawyers say he was duped and Justice Rigg was told the accused would maintain a plea of not guilty’ when going to trial.
Barry Calverley, above with an ambulance he delivered to a WA mining site, has worked on gas and oil projects for resources giants like Shell, Exxon Mobil, BHP and Santos
Calverley has had declining health since being incarcerated in Wellington prison (above) where the first-time inmate appeared in court via video link looking emotional
While admitting the hotel exchange seemed suspicious, Calverley has said that he would not have agreed to take anything illegal.
Calverley was well-respected and ‘impressive’, according to a friend in the business of safety consultancy for high-risk mining sites who spoke to Daily Mail Australia.
The friend, said he was ‘flabbergasted’ that Calverley is in jail accused of drug trafficking and provided a character reference on Wednesday for his bid to be released on bail.
But Justice Rigg said she did not believe Calverley had shown why his continued detention was not justified or sufficiently mitigated the risks of releasing him on a charge which carried ‘a maximum penalty of life imprisonment’.
‘I must refuse bail and bail is refused,’ Her Honour said.
Red-faced Calverley appeared to sob and wiped his eyes with his hand before the video link to the prison was shut off.
He will be committed for trial in the NSW District Court in September, with a likely 2025 trial date.
Harriet Calverley declined to comment about her father.
