The Freshwater Five
Fri 14 – Sat 15 AprOn 31 May 2010 eleven holdalls were discovered along the shore near Freshwater on the Isle of Wight; when opened they contained £53m worth of cocaine – the biggest haul ever found in UK waters. Five men were sentenced to a combined 104 years. In 2019 new evidence came to light that cast doubt on the original convictions.
Inspired by The Guardian’s award-winning podcast, (listen to it here: https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2021/feb/19/the-freshwater-five-part-1-are-the-wrong-men-in-jail-podcast) we applied for research and development funding from Arts Council for a new production based around this incredible story. Delving into the case and the personal stories of the family, as well as the historical and cultural resonance surrounding it.
