British drug boss Robert “The Voice” Dawes gets life in prison for ordering murder of innocent Dutch school teacher
14 January 2025
3 minutes
By David Amoruso for Gangsters Inc.
British drug boss Robert “The Voice” Dawes was one of Europe’s most powerful criminals. His organization operated in countless countries in and outside the continent and stretched all the way to South America, the Middle East, and Asia. After achieving such heights, Dawes felt he could get away with everything. Even with killing an innocent school teacher in the Netherlands. He was wrong.
Last week, Dawes was found guilty by a Dutch court of ordering the brutal murder of Gerard Meesters, a 52-year-old social studies teacher whose only crime was having a sister who had stolen from Dawes.
Dawes was not present in court. His lawyer said they would appeal the verdict.
Robert Dawes
Thieving sister
Jeanet Meesters and a friend of hers allegedly stole a shipment of 1000 kilos of hashish in Spain of which Dawes owned a portion. Unable to locate Jeanet, Dawes decided to go after her family instead.
On November 24, 2002, several of Dawes’ Dutch and English associates made the journey to the city of Groningen in the north of the Netherlands. Their destination was the house of Gerard Meesters. The Englishmen rang his doorbell and handed the perplexed teacher a piece of paper with a Spanish telephone number on it. They told him to call that number and give the person on the other end of the line the location of his sister Jeanet. If he didn’t phone the number, the men said, they’d come back. “And not to have a talk,” one adds.
Meesters had no idea where his sister was and when he called the number he quickly hung up after the man on the other end of the line refused to say his name. The move sealed his fate. The Englishmen returned four days later. Again they rang the doorbell. When Meesters opened his door, he was shot eight times and died at the scene.
Daniel Sowerby was eventually convicted of this murder and sentenced to life in prison. His accomplice who drove the car received an 8-year sentence. Prosecutors pointed to Dawes as the man who ordered the killing, but were unable to get to him due to lack of evidence.
Fighting for justice
Meesters his children never gave up on justice though. They pestered Sowerby to tell them who ordered him to do the killing, visiting him in prison and keeping up the pressure. Sowerby relented a little bit, giving Dutch prosecutors enough to at least charge Dawes in 2021.
By then, Dawes was already behind bars, serving a 22-year-sentence for drug trafficking in France.
Dawes after his arrest
He was brought to the Netherlands under heavy security measures. In court he was evasive, refusing to really answer any question the judge or prosecutors had.
The verdict came on Friday, January 10, 2025, when he was found guilty of ordering the murder of Meesters. “This is about the cold blooded murder of a completely innocent victim. A murder to pressure a woman on the run,” the judge reasoned. “Ordering the execution of a person solely for being ‘the brother of’ is evidence of unprecedented cruelty.”
Because of this, Dawes was sentenced to life in prison. He will be extradited to the Netherlands after finishing his sentence in France, which will be around 2030. According to Dutch law, Dawes will be eligible for parole after serving 25 years of his life sentence. At that time he will be in his early 80s.
https://gangstersinc.org/2025/01/14/british-drug-boss-robert-the-voice-dawes-gets-life-in-prison-for-ordering-murder-of-innocent-dutch-school-teacher/