Mark Standen

Address: Sydney, NSW, Australia
Age: 54
Sex: Male
Hair colour: Black
Occupation: Police Officer

Convictions

Date: 8/12/2011
Charges: Importing drugs
Category: Drug related
Court: NSW Supreme Court
Judge: Justice Bruce James
Penalty: 22 years jail

FORMER police officer Mark Standen has joined the worst of those he has locked up in Long Bay - jailed for at least 16 years for his role in a drug importation plot.

The one-time assistant director of the NSW Crime Commission was a shadow of his former self as Justice Bruce James handed down a sentence of 22 years, noting Standen had shown "no remorse" for his crime.

In August 2011, Standen was found guilty by a Supreme Court jury of conspiring to import 300kg of pseudoephedrine - used in the manufacture of the illicit drugs speed and ice - as well as taking part in the supply of the substance and conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

During sentencing,Standen sat impassively in the dock of the Supreme Court as Justice James spent nearly two hours detailing his plot with former food wholesaler Bakhos "Bill" Jalalaty and his one-time informant and drug trafficker James Kinch.

Justice James said Standen was motivated by growing debts to take part in the plot that stood to earn him millions of dollars. At a sentencing hearing for Standen in November, Crown Prosecutor Tim Game SC said "it was hard to conceive a more grave breach of trust", given his senior position at the NSW Crime Commission - an "abuse" that was taken into account by Justice James.

"A matter seriously aggravating the prisoner's criminality was his misuse of knowledge and contacts he had acquired in his career as a law enforcement officer and the abuse of his position with the NSW Crime Commission," the judge said.

"As an assistant director of investigations with the NSW Crime Commission, one of his duties was to investigate drug trafficking, that is, criminal conduct of the very sort in which he engaged.

"(His) motive was clearly financial gain for himself ... not for the purchase of luxury items, but to clear himself of his debts.

"I take these matters into account. However ... they afford little mitigation (because) the amount of money which the prisoner anticipated receiving as his remuneration went far beyond the amount required to pay off his debts."

Standen has been in custody since his high-profile arrest in June 2008. Backdating of his 16 year non-parole period means he will be eligible for release on June 1, 2024.

Justice James said Standen "had a long and successful career as a law enforcement officer (and) he has suffered extra-curial punishment in the loss of his career and in public disgrace and humiliation".

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