British man who was filmed snorting cocaine on Pablo Escobar's grave jailed for drugs trafficking

In 2018, Steven Semmens was filmed kneeling by Escobar’s grave in Itagui, Colombia and where he spilt cocaine on his gravestone.

The 39-year-old from Swansea, Wales, said he meant it as a “mark of respect” but he was swiftly kicked out of Colombia for five years.

In the video, which went viral, Semmens is seen smiling for the camera before dumping the white powder on the gravestone and rolling up a bank note. He then bends down to snort the substance before telling the camera: “I’m Gordon Ramsey mate.”

On Thursday, December 29th, the Welsh man was handed down a sentence of 13 and a half years after he was found guilty of being involved with an international drug smuggling ring that attempted to traffic large quantities of coke into Wales between April 2020 and August 2021.

According to South Wales Police, Steven was based in Spain for the majority of the conspiracy.

They said it was Semmens’s job to source large quantities of cocaine from his Colombian drug cartel associates whilst in Spain.

He would send videos back to his co-conspirator Shane White (34) in the UK of cocaine, sometimes in excess of more than 50 kgs at a time.

These videos went on to be used to advertise cocaine for sale in the UK.

The gang conspired together to import 10 kilograms of cocaine into the UK, and supplied a further eight kilograms in the South Wales area which they had sourced within the UK. The cocaine had a total street value in the UK of between £2m and £2.5m (€2.25m and €2.82m)

The majority of this cocaine was destined to be supplied on the streets of South Wales.

Semmens, also known as Steven Pascoe, and his co-conspirators, White, Andrew Botto (34) and Ieuan Emlyn Williams (37) all previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine when they appeared in the dock for sentencing.

Semmens and White had also admitted to conspiracy to import cocaine.

Botto previously pleaded guilty to a separate conspiracy, committed with others unknown, to supply cocaine. He has previous convictions from 2014 for possession of cocaine with intent to supply for which he received a five-year prison sentence.

During the trial, Semmens’ barrister Andrew Taylor told the court that following the incident at Escobar’s grave, his criminal associates were “not pleased” about it.

He described his client as “naive” and a “fantasist” who inhabits a “Walter Mitty world of a lifestyle he sometimes thinks he has”.