Six year prison sentence for drugs mule

Friday 14 April 2017

A man who flew into the Island from the UK with more than £2,800 worth of MDMA hidden in his abdomen has been sentenced to six years' imprisonment.

Andrew David Edward Jones (39), who has a history of drug related offences including four for trafficking, was stopped by a Customs Officer in December 2016 after flying in from Liverpool.

Shortly after being arrested on suspicion of the importation of a controlled drug, Jones was taken to the General Hospital for an x-ray of his abdomen. A 27.7 gramme package of MDMA with an estimated street value of £2,800 was later recovered .

Earlier that day, when Jones was stopped at the airport, he stated he had nothing to declare but confessed he used to use cocaine. He later admitted having used cocaine and cannabis the previous weekend. Traces of both drugs were found in an urine analysis. 

He told Customs Officers he was only on the Island for one night to visit friends and deliver Christmas presents. However, he was unable to provide any addresses. 

During his interview, he claimed he owed money to an unnamed person who had asked him to carry out the importation. He said he had been given instructions by phone but that he was too scared to say what they were.

His advocate, James Bell told the court, presided over by the Bailiff William Bailhache, that Jones "desperately regretted agreeing to transport the substance. He does not just regret the consequences for him, but for others as well. He undertook the action under severe pressure and was not going to profit financially from it. He learnt a harsh lesson for it." 

In mitigation Advocate Bell added Jones had entered a guilty plea at his first appearance in the Magistrate's Court and that it "showed contrition and acceptance of his actions." He also mentioned references that were sent to Court on Jones' behalf. "This reflects well upon him that people would take the trouble to write to the court for him. They describe him as good natured, kind, supportive, someone who goes out of his way to help others, who worked with support groups and charities and helped others through difficult times."

Concluding, Advocate Bell said that before this offence, his client had been trying to turn his life around and urged the court to "exercise some degree of mercy so that there can be light at the end of the tunnel for him."

Handing down the sentence, the Bailiff noted Jones could look at the sentence in either a negative or positive way. He told Jones: "You can take this as an opportunity to move your life forward. This is a long term commitment to be free of drugs and the problems they have caused you in the past."