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Convicted Irish drug smuggler linked to demolition of Britain’s ‘wonkiest pub’

The destruction of the Black Country landmark after a fire ripped through the building has been greeted with outrage

Today at 11:29

The director of a company that hired a digger to demolish the beloved Crooked House, known as Britain’s wonkiest pub, is convicted Tipperary drug smuggler, Morgan McGrath, it has been reported.

McGrath (51) from Breansha, was jailed for 12 years in 2004 for his part in a £20 million international drug smuggling operation.

The destruction of the Black Country landmark after a fire ripped through the building, bringing 200 years of history to an end, has been greeted with outrage.

The pub, that owed its name due to its lopsidedness, caused by subsidence linked to mining, was famous as coins and marbles appeared to defy gravity by rolling uphill along the bar.

According to the Times, it caught fire 15 days after being bought by ATE Farms, a company controlled by Carly Taylor (34).

Her husband, Adam Taylor (44) is a former director of the company that runs the landfill site adjacent to the pub.

It notes that neither the Taylors nor McGrath are suspected of acting illegally but adds that McGrath is the director of AT Contracting & Plant Hire, that hired a digger to destroy the remains of the pub, without permission, two days after it was destroyed in the mystery blaze.

The owner of the digger confirmed last week that he rented the vehicle to the firm before the fire.

“McGrath was one of two men who pleaded guilty to charges relating to an attempt to import into Ireland 48kg of heroin, 198kg of cannabis resin, 591,180 Ecstasy tablets, 602,000 temazepam tablets and 132kg of the amphetamine commonly known as speed,” the Times reports.

“The drugs were hidden beneath the false lead-lined floor of trailers carrying vegetables. At the time it was one of the biggest drug hauls to be intercepted by police in Europe.”

Although they have not named any suspects, police who are investigating the destruction of The Crooked House are treating it as suspected arson.

It has been separately reported how fire crews from Staffordshire and West Midlands that raced to the scene found a mound of dirt “blocking” the rural road.

Chris Green, who has served in the fire service for 16 years and has been watch commander at Tipton Fire Station since 2021, said access was difficult due to mounds of dirt blocking the road.

Mr Green told Express and Star: “When we got there the lads had to work so hard because there were mounds of dirt that had been put in the road blocking the lane.

“They could have been put there as a security measure.”

After being released from prison in Ireland in 2015 or 2016, McGrath moved to the UK, the Times reports.

“He shares a number of directorships with the Taylors and Adam Taylor’s son from a previous relationship, Ethan Taylor (23), across a range of companies in the freight transport, building development and the treatment and disposal of hazardous waste sectors,” the report adds.

“McGrath and Adam Taylor are the only two active directors of AT Contracting & Plant Hire, which provides the diggers, excavators and other heavy machinery used in the quarries and landfill sites linked to the Taylors across the country,” the Times reports.

This includes Oak Farm landfill site in Himley, near Dudley, next to the pub.

Both men are named on the company’s vehicle licence, which allows them to operate 20 vehicles and 15 trailers at Finmere quarry until 2027, where a fire broke out in August 2018, burning through 400 tonnes of waste. The cause was never established.

When he was approached by the Times at a property beside Finmere quarry, McGrath denied any knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the pub.

He added: “I don’t see what my past has to do with anything. Every sinner has a past, every saint has a future,” when asked about his previous drug conviction.

Meanwhile, South Staffordshire council is conducting an investigation into the “demolition of the entire building, without appropriate permissions”, police have confirmed.

Marco Longhi, the Dudley North MP, urged the community to be patient, reassuring them that the truth will emerge as he addressed an angry public meeting called to address the demolition.

“We’re running a marathon, not a sprint,” he has been quoted as saying, adding that he would like to see a “Crooked House law” to protect other pubs from the same fate.

“We need to change what we have in place so the risk of what has happened happening again is zero.”

In July 2005, McGrath and another man who were each jailed for 12 years for their involvement in one of the biggest drugs hauls to be intercepted by police in Europe had their sentences reduced to eight years by the Court of Criminal Appeal.

Michael Howard of Knocktoran, Elton, Co Limerick, and McGrath had pleaded guilty before Monaghan Circuit Court to charges of conspiring to import drugs with an estimated street value of €22.5m between August 1 and 31, 2002.

Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns said counsel in the case had now clarified for the court that the appropriate maximum sentence for actual importation of controlled drugs was now agreed to be a maximum term of 14 years.

Prosecuting counsel had accepted that it would be inappropriate where there was a charge of conspiracy and where there was a plea to that charge, that up to a life sentence could be imposed. Counsel had accepted that it would be inappropriate in the conspiracy offence to impose any greater sentence than the maximum provided for importation.

There had been a difficulty in the Circuit Court hearing when the trial judge was not given the assistance he needed and instead was, in a general way, referred to the Criminal Justice Act 1999 and the fact that the relevant section provided for a sentence of up to life and a minimum sentence of 10 years.

The CCA was satisfied there had been an error of principle at work during the Circuit Court hearing.