The trio have been jailed for a total of 17-and-a-half years, after one of them was stopped at Jersey Airport while carrying £11,200 worth of MDMA internally.
Michael Anthony Hall (33), Zoe Louise Myers (35) Kaine Richard Jordan Witthingham (22), who were respectively described as the UK organiser, the courier, and the Jersey-based distributor, have been jailed for eight, five and four-and-a-half years.
They appeared before Jersey’s Superior Number earlier this week – a panel that sits only for the most serious of cases – facing one count of conspiracy to import MDMA and three other charges relating to money laundering.
Whittingham also faced one charge of being knowingly concerned in the supply of cannabis as well as possession of the drug.
The Court heard that the trio’s charges were linked to two importations of MDMA from 5 September and 11 October 2018.
Pictured: Myers was stopped at the airport after Customs Officers noticed she was shaking.
In both cases, Hall had given Myers the drugs in the UK which she then concealed internally before traveling to the island. Once in Jersey, she met Whittingham and gave him the drugs, in exchange for cash which she took back to Hall.
Hall was identified through one of his fingerprints found on one of the wrappings of the packages Myers was carrying and was arrested in April 2019 in Bury.
Crown Advocate Richard Pedley said the conspiracy also involved activity in Guernsey, although none of the defendants had been charged in relation to any alleged importation of drugs here.
The Court heard that Myers had travelled to Guernsey on 23 August 2018 to collect cash for Hall.
On 28 August 2018, Hall sent Myers a message asking whether her fingerprints would be on any drugs packaged in Guernsey, after a 14-year-old boy ended up in hospital after taking drugs. Myers said she was just there to collect the money and hadn’t touched any bags.
“The prosecution case is that this was the start of a drug trafficking scheme, which would have continued and even expanded had the arrests not been made,” the Crown Advocate said. “While all are drug users, the motivation for the conspiracy was financial.”
Pictured: Jersey’s Court heard the conspiracy also involved activity in Guernsey.
He told the Court Hall didn’t dispute he had been “the driving force” behind the importation. He noted Myers had had a “traumatic upbringing” and was suffering from PTSD while there were “tragic events” in Whittingham’s background. He however said Myers had been a “willing participants for financial benefit” while Whittingham had “allowed his quest for personal gain to dominate his thinking ».
He moved for a eight-year sentence for Hall, six years for Myers and five for Whittingham.
Royal Court Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith heard the case alongside Jurats Collette Crill, Jane Ronge, Pam Pitman, Steven Austin-Vautier and Gareth Hughes.
The Court decided to jail Hall for eight years while slightly reducing the sentences for Myers and Whittingham to five and four-and-a-half years respectively.
Lead picture: Zoe Myers and Kaine Witthingham.