John Haase is a convicted drug dealer and associate of Curtis Warren.

John Haase and his nephew Paul Bennett are career criminals with convictions for bank robbery and drug smuggling. In 1996 Haase and Bennett were given a Royal Pardon 11 months into 18 year prison sentences for heroin smuggling, having provided information leading to the seizure of firearms. The Home Secretary

Home Secretary

The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...

, Michael Howard

Michael Howard

Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...

, was criticized for the decision, and in 2008 Haase and Bennett were convicted of having set up the weapons finds to earn them their release, and sentenced to 20 and 22 years in prison respectively.

Smuggling investigation

Haase and Bennett were arrested in 1992 following a long investigation by the British Customs and Excise organisation which was subsequently described in a book by one of the investigating officers. Officers followed a major heroin shipment (worth approximately £18 million) destined for Liverpool as part of a larger investigation into 'Volkan', a Turkish heroin smuggler. As the officers arrested many members of the gang in and around Liverpool, Haase and Bennett nearly slipped through the net, but were arrested in Croydon

Croydon

Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...

, south London.

Trial and sentence

After sentencing the pair to 12 years each in prison, Judge David Lynch wrote privately to the Home Secretary, recommending that he 'exercise the Royal Prerogative of mercy' on account of information that the pair had given that had led to the seizure of illegal firearms. Michael Howard ordered their release, and they served less than a year of the sentence. Police recovered many firearms, including AK-47

AK-47

The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...

 and M16A2

M16 rifle

The M16 is the United States military designation for the AR-15 rifle adapted for both semi-automatic and full-automatic fire. Colt purchased the rights to the AR-15 from ArmaLite, and currently uses that designation only for semi-automatic versions of the rifle. The M16 fires the 5.56×45mm NATO...

 assault rifles, Czechoslovak Sa vz. 23 submachine guns, Thompson submachine gun

Thompson submachine gun

The Thompson is an American submachine gun, invented by John T. Thompson in 1919, that became infamous during the Prohibition era. It was a common sight in the media of the time, being used by both law enforcement officers and criminals...

s, Uzi sub-machine guns, shotguns, ammunition and Semtex

Semtex

Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive containing RDX and PETN. It is used in commercial blasting, demolition, and in certain military applications. Semtex became notoriously popular with terrorists because it was, until recently, extremely difficult to detect, as in the case of Pan Am...

 explosive.

Perversion of the Course of Justice case

Doubts were expressed as to the authenticity of the information that Haase and Bennett gave, and local Liverpool MP

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

, Peter Kilfoyle

Peter Kilfoyle

Peter Kilfoyle is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Liverpool Walton from 1991 to 2010.-Early life:...

campaigned for an investigation.