Quynh Van Huynh Vietnamese boss of a drugs gang were today jailed for a total of 23 years for a punishment beating that left a man dead.

Three Vietnamese members of a drugs gang were today jailed for a total of 23 years for a punishment beating that left a man dead.Tran Nguyen, 44, was beaten up and dumped fatally injured in a hospital in November 2006, two months after arriving in the UK on the back of a lorry.The gang accused the father-of-two of stealing plants from the cannabis factory he tended in Newport, south Wales, a four-month trial heard.
Quynh Van Huynh, 51, who was the boss, was jailed for nine years for manslaughter at Cardiff Crown Court today.Than Van Le, 32, and Cong Van Le, 50, were sentenced to seven years each. All three had denied murder.In a statement read to the court by prosecutor Roger Griffiths, Mr Nguyen’s widow said she feared for the safety of herself and her family after giving evidence to the police.Pham Thi Thien said: "When I heard the news of my husband’s death it was devastating for me and my children."You can imagine the situation when a wife loses her husband and children lose their father."My husband was a healthy person and he was beaten up to death."
The gang took him to be punished in a house near Heathrow because they suspected him of stealing £30,000 to £40,000 worth of their crop.The trial heard his wife was telephoned during the ordeal and told by one of the attackers: "Be prepared to collect your husband’s corpse."He was driven back to south Wales and carried into the Royal Gwent Hospital with broken ribs and a head injury by two men who fled the scene.He died about eight hours later. His identity was only discovered the following month when his brother-in-law went to the hospital looking for him.
Sentencing, Mr Justice McKinnon said: "This was in the nature of a gangland punishment beating that went wrong."Without Quynh the beating would not have happened and the victim "would probably be alive today", the judge said.
He added: "The police officers in this case should be commended for their thorough and painstaking investigation in this difficult case."
Outside court, Det Insp Russell Tiley, of Gwent Police, said the force was working with the Vietnamese authorities to make sure Mr Nguyen’s family were safe and to charge another man in Vietnam who is wanted in connection with the case.
"It was our main concern to find out what happened to Tran," he said.
"The family found it difficult to understand how a group of people could do this. They do understand that people will serve a term of punishment for the death."
Bac Phuong Nguyen, 30, of no fixed abode, Son Van Nhu, 24, of Canterbury Road, Feltham, west London, and Paul Harrison, 36, of Davenport Road, south-east London, were cleared of all charges at the end of the trial earlier this month.