Drugs courier gets 3 years for smuggling more than £150k of cannabis in car boot

Friday 08 July 2016

A 41 year-old father-of-two from Guildford, who smuggled £150k of cannabis into Jersey, is starting a three year prison sentence.

Stuart Marshall, who appeared in the Royal Court this morning, was pulled over by Customs Officers when he arrived off the ferry from Portsmouth back in March.

A Customs sniffer dog picked up the scent of drugs during a search of his black Seat Leon on Saturday 26 March, and officers found 79 bars of cannabis resin, weighing 7.9kg taped inside eight wrapped packages and concealed in a spare tyre, a tyre that didn't match the others on the car.

Marshall admitted to having a long-standing cannabis habit since the age of 21, has served two prison sentences and has an extensive criminal record, although no previous convictions for drug smuggling, told his lawyer he realised how much trouble he was in when he saw all the drugs out on a table at Elizabeth Harbour and said he was shocked to see the quantity of drugs he had helped smuggle over.

His defence claimed he was going to be paid £2,000 for the job of bringing the drugs over to the Island but claimed he wasn't trusted with any names or contact details of anyone here or in the UK, and was told to expect a call once he'd got the drugs into the Island. He hasn't named the person who put the drug-filled tyre into the boot of his car but his defence claimed he didn't help pack or hide the packages, didn't know how much cannabis he was bringing in and wasn't paid up front for the job.

Although initially denying any knowledge of having the drugs in his car, he quickly started co-operating with Customs officials, pleaded guilty in the Magistrates Court and wrote a letter of remorse to the Royal Court.

His defence said he was under financial pressure when he committed the crime and was trying to get a deposit together so that he, his partner and her little boy could get a new place to live together after losing their social housing, following an argument with a neighbour.