Simon Ratcliffe: Dad jailed for Spirit of Tasmania drug operation

A drugged-up dad didn’t realise he was being watched when he put a huge amount of gear in a Laverton post box. It proved to be his downfall.

Ratcliffe’s drug operation was foiled at a Laverton post box.

A dad who was seen trying to mail a huge amount of ice interstate had previously spent years in jail for trafficking commercial quantities of drugs.

Simon Ratcliffe, 42, was sentenced to a minimum of five years’ jail at the County Court on Monday, December 7, having pleaded guilty to charges including trafficking a commercial quantity of methylamphetamine.

He was being monitored as part of a national investigation into cross-state drug trafficking when police watched him put almost 240g of ice — four times what constitutes a commercial quantity — in a Laverton post box on February 3.

The Altona Meadows father-of-two had also used his brother’s internet account to arrange for a Honda Accord sent from Devonport in Tasmania to Melbourne via the Spirit of Tasmania.

After Ratcliffe picked up the car on April 10, police raided his home and found $125,150 hidden inside pillowcases in a panel of the Honda.

More than 30g of cocaine and 10.4g of ice was found inside his house.

Ratcliffe was then being escorted to a police station when he told an officer, “You do what you’ve got to do to get drugs, you know”.

The court heard he had long suffered issues with drug, alcohol and gambling addictions and had previously been jailed multiple times.

Lawyer Sam Norton said his client had a personal history so horrific that it was shocking to even those who spent their lives working with criminals, including prolonged physical attacks and a variety of traumas.

It was heard Ratcliffe worked in traffic management until 2019, when he had to stop because of injury, which led to him to going back to drug use.

His wife had told the court he had a better attitude to rehabilitation this time around.

Judge Rachelle Lewitan said she accepted Ratcliffe was remorseful, and noted the benefit of his early plea and the more onerous conditions he’d dealt with in custody due to COVID-19.

However, Judge Lewitan said she had to sentence Ratcliffe as a serious drug offender because of his highly relevant prior convictions.

Ratcliffe was sentenced to a maximum of seven years’ jail, having already served 234 days.