Joe Daniel Murphy (30) took receipt of a parcel for a friend last year, and it was later found to contain 994 grams of MDMA.
Murphy said he had no knowledge of the contents and was to be paid £500 for accepting it. He admitted one charge of drug importation.
Delivering the sentence in the Royal Court yesterday, Commissioner Sir William Bailhache said: ‘We have had regard to comments on your role but it has to be remembered that by providing an address and receiving [the package] and passing it on to the organiser you played a very significant role in the importation itself. It has been said many times before that drugs, specifically class A drugs, wreck people’s lives and this quantity could have wrecked a number of lives.
‘You have made a very bad mistake in a somewhat blameless life and you are of good character.’
Sir William added that the court could reduce the sentence because Murphy had co-operated with the police investigation.
Crown Advocate Emma Hollywood, prosecuting, said that on 5 November a parcel was examined at Jersey Post headquarters by a Customs officer.
It was addressed to Murphy and found to contain 102 grams of cocaine.
The following day police attended his address to arrest Murphy and, on searching his car, an unopened package addressed to him was discovered in the boot. On examination it was found to contain 994.41 grams of MDMA, with a purity of 79%.
Originally he said he did not know anything about the package and thought it may have come from a family member, before telling police: ‘I have just been thinking it must be a set-up’.
He then told police he had been asked to receive the package and to pass it on to another person for £500. The package was examined by officers, and the MDMA was found to have a street value of between £80,000 and £100,000.
In a statement, Murphy also told police he was asked twice by a friend to receive a package for a fee but refused and, on the third occasion when asking what was going to be inside, he was told ‘it is best that you don’t know’.
He pleaded guilty to the MDMA count, but denied a count of importing cocaine which was accepted by the Crown.
Crown Advocate Hollywood moved for a sentence of eight-and-a-half years in prison.
Advocate Michael Haines, defending, said his client had no knowledge of what was in the package, adding the value he gave to it was shown by the fact he left it in the boot of his car in a public car park with one door unlocked.
He described his client as being angry that he had placed his trust in someone, and he apologised for being stupid, naive and selfish. He added that Murphy had co-operated with the police.
He urged the court to pass a ‘sentence of hope’ for Murphy and give him a substantial reduction due to his co-operation with the police.
Jurats Jerry Ramsden, Jane Ronge, Robert Christensen were sitting.
