Tayne Clarkson: Finks Gold Coast bikie president jailed for drug supply
Months on the run from police have ended in jail time for a senior Gold Coast bikie who admitted to dealing MDMA. His dramatic arrest came after his barrage of social media taunts to cops – “F*** Raptor. They can’t catch me”.
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A high-ranking Finks bikie who taunted police on social media while on the run from his home state of Queensland has been jailed for drug supply.
Tayne Clarkson, 21, president of the Gold Coast Finks bikie gang, was sentenced in Mt Druitt Local Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to drug supply.
Clarkson had been on the run from police in Queensland over an alleged armed robbery in company and grievous bodily harm when he was nabbed in Mt Druitt in July.
According to court documents, police tracked Clarkson’s movements on his Instagram page, ‘Cashedarp’, where he bragged about evading arrest and posted “F*** Raptor. They can’t catch me”.
His taunts however, brought him undone when officers tracked him to a house in Rymill Rd, Tregear and arrested him during a vehicle stop on the Great Western Highway, Mt Druitt on July 23.
He pleaded guilty to one count of supplying a prohibited drug after officers found 16g of the MDMA in rock form inside a container in the car.
During sentencing at Mt Druitt Local Court on Wednesday, Clarkson’s defence told the court the drugs were partly for personal use and sharing with friends at parties.
The defence took issue with the prosecution’s argument that the drugs were part of a larger supply network as part of Clarkson’s links to an outlaw motorcycle gang.
However, Magistrate James Gibson found the drugs were in Clarkson’s possession for the purposes of dealing to others for profit.
“The fact he is on the run and the drugs are found in a rock form … I’m satisfied beyond reasonable doubt the drugs in his possession were for the purposes of supply, at least in some part, and he was seeking to gain from it and make a financial profit,” Magistrate Gibson said.
“The items were found in the possession of the accused at the time when he was fleeing serious charges in Queensland … the only inference I can make, taking into account the amount which the drug was found in rock form and the fact he would’ve not had legitimate means of support, was he had possession of those drugs for use for himself and for the supply.”
The court heard Clarkson was wanted on two arrest warrants by Queensland Police at the time of his arrest for violent offences.
Clarkson told the court he wanted the matter resolved so he could return to Queensland.
“I would like to get everything out of the way and get my life back on track. I’m getting extradited back to Queensland,” he said.
He was jailed for seven months, with a non-parole period of four months and faces extradition back to Queensland in November.