A 45-YEAR-OLD “family” man who claimed he was coming to Jersey to repair damage caused by Storm Ciarán but was actually smuggling high-purity cocaine worth up to £125,000 into the Island has been jailed for eight years and three months.
Andrew Christopher Lane, from Staffordshire, arrived in the Island on a ferry from Portsmouth on 2 April but Customs and Immigration officers stopped him and soon discovered half a kilo of the class A drug hidden in a toolbox, wrapped in orange tape in an attempt to conceal it, in his hired white van.
Lane, who told Customs he was a renderer who had come to Jersey to help fix storm damage, was one of three men who had travelled in the van, but he insisted that the other two men “had nothing to do with it”.
The drugs had an estimated street value of between £75,000 and £125,000.
While he initially admitted the drugs were cocaine, when interviewed by Customs officers he then gave “no comment” answers to all questions.
Crown Advocate Carla Carvalho, prosecuting, told the Royal Court that the cocaine was of 84% purity, meaning it could have been mixed with other substances to increase the quantity. She said: “Drugs ruin lives and have a damaging impact on the local community. Couriers play a vital role in that.”
Advocate Carvalho suggested a jail sentence of ten years.
Advocate Chris Baglin, defending, said Lane admitted the offence on appearing in the Magistrate’s Court, so was entitled to the usual reduction of one third of his sentence for an early guilty plea.
He added that he was “a hard-working family man” who had got into financial difficulty and had been offered £5,000 to smuggle the drugs into the Island.
Advocate Baglin said his client had seen the operation as “a quick fix” but felt genuine remorse and had later said: “It’s my own fault. It was stupid thinking.”
Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae accepted that Lane had no similar previous convictions, pleaded guilty early and was considered at low risk of reconviction.
But he said a prison term of eight years and three months was “the least sentence” the court could impose.
After the sentencing JCIS senior manager Luke Goddard said: “This seizure was made following diligent work carried out by JCIS border officers.
“Seizures such as this will always result in continued investigation by JCIS officers to identify and prosecute others involved in significant drug trafficking activity.”
The Jurats sitting were Robert Christensen, Gareth Hughes, Karen Le Cornu, Mike Berry and Michael Entwistle.
