Scone man Peter Leslie Ritson faces sentencing hearing over 550kg cocaine import conspiracy

An Upper Hunter man once accused of being the mastermind behind a conspiracy to import more than half a tonne of cocaine from South America has told a court he was just following orders and would do it again if he had to.

Peter Leslie Ritson has admitted to conspiring to import 550kg of cocaine from South America. No cocaine every reached Australian shores in shipments. (File picture)

A man who has admitted to being a “frontman” for an Upper Hunter business used in a conspiracy to import over half a tonne of cocaine from South America has told a sentencing hearing he would do it again if he was in dire circumstances.

“At the time it was just a job, I had to eat,” Peter Leslie Ritson told Newcastle District Court on Wednesday.

He later added: “Today, sitting in here at my age, if I am on the streets of course I would, what else would I be able to do.”

Ritson, now aged 62, has pleased guilty to conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug after he had set up a front company to bring teak and zeolite from Peru.

Following several “dummy” runs, Ritson and his co-conspirators had helped organise to have 100kg of cocaine hidden in teak.

Ritson faced a sentencing hearing in Newcastle District Court on Thursday.

But even after buying specialist blue lighting to find markings on the timber, they realised there were no drugs.

Two further shipments – set to be 200kg each – also arrived without any cocaine and a fourth shipment was thwarted as the worldwide pandemic hit.

Felicity Fraser was sentenced to a maximum nine and a half years’ jail. Picture: Facebook

The importations were supposed to occur from 2017 until Ritson’s arrest in early 2022.

Ritson’s bookkeeper, fellow Scone identity Felicity Fraser, was also arrested and was sentenced last year to a maximum nine-and-a-half years jail for her role in the conspiracy.

Ritson had established Kray Services before employing Fraser and going about making it appear a legitimate importing business before the cocaine would start arriving, which he would later tell Fraser would make $6 million for each of the first two shipments and $10 million for third.

On Wednesday, Ritson gave evidence at his sentencing hearing that he was just the company “frontman” and had instead followed orders from others higher up the chain of command, both in Australia and overseas.

He said he was paid in small cash payments of between $1000 and $2000, totalling up to $30,000 over four years.

Defence barrister Gillian Jewison said cognitive tests on Ritson suggested he was in the very low to average range, suggesting he did not have the intelligence to be the apparent “mastermind” for the importations scheme.

Judge Troy Anderson will bring down his sentence on the importation conspiracy, and three gun charges, next month.