Cocaine mule jailed for five years

Cocaine mule jailed for five years

The Royal Court was told that Customs officers stopped Danny Jones (37) at the Airport after he took an easyJet flight from Liverpool on 16 January.

Officials became suspicious because his hands were trembling when he tried to search his phone after being asked which hotel he was staying at, the court heard. He later admitted taking cocaine, and a urine test for the drug confirmed this. He also told officers he had swallowed about 15g of cocaine in a sealed package to avoid detection. A white plastic object containing 27.65g of the drug was later recovered.

Crown Advocate Chris Baglin, prosecuting, told the court Jones had collected the drugs from a third-party on the eve of his trip, and had refused to name his supplier. But, Jones denied he had imported drugs into the Island the previous week, saying he had come to Jersey looking for work.

Advocate Luke Sette, defending, said: ‘In his formative years Jones and his family [had] faced a great deal of adversity.’ The lawyer added that this had ‘led to drug and alcohol dependency’. However, Advocate Sette argued that Jones really was ‘coming to Jersey to leave his old life behind’ and had been looking for work here.

‘Jersey was supposed to be his new start,’ he told the court, adding that the defendant’s ‘old life haunted him one last time’. Agreeing to be a courier was the ‘most stupid decision he has ever made in his life’, the lawyer said.

Delivering the court’s sentence, the Bailiff, Timothy Le Cocq, presiding, told Jones that although he might not have been benefitting directly from the importation, he would have gained indirectly, and that his crime was ‘a serious offence’. He went on to say that although 27g was a relatively small quantity of cocaine, its purity also had to be taken into account. At 81% it had the potential to be very harmful. He added that by ‘cutting’ it with other substances it was possible to increase its volume. Couriers, the Bailiff said, were essential to drug dealers. He added: ‘This court will do all that it can to protect the Island from this trade.’

Jurats Anthony Olsen, Charles Blampied, and Joanne Averty were sitting.

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