Gatwick drug smuggling mums jailed
10.05.08
Three mothers who attempted to smuggle £340,000 worth of cocaine into the country via Gatwick Airport in their underwear have been jailed for 5½ years. The total weight of the drugs they were attempting to smuggle was 2.1 kilos, which must have made a few unsightly bulges.
Collette Williams, 38, Natalie Phillips, 28 and Cherie McClarnan, 21, all from Manchester, had been promised £3,000 each to bring the drugs in, but they were caught by Customs officers at the airport. They pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court to 'illegal importation' charges.
Rosemary Burns, prosecuting, said the three women landed on a flight in January last year and went into the 'nothing to declare' green channel. She said: ‘Ms Phillips, from St. Kitt, came in first and packages containing cocaine were found in her bra and knickers. Later that day, the other two arrived from Antigua, and they, too, had drugs in their underwear. All the packages were identical and hidden in an identical way.’
Each of the women made statements to Customs officers. Ms McClarnan, who has a son aged three, said: ‘We met and arranged to bring drugs into the country. I knew it was illegal.' Ms Phillips, who has six children, said they were going to be paid £3,000 on delivery, and Ms Williams, a mother of two, also admitted her involvement.
Judge Simon Stow QC said: ‘The courts must take these offences very seriously, because these drugs cause misery and sometimes death to those unfortunate enough to become addicted to them.’ He made a travelling restriction which will prevent the women from going abroad for 3 years on their release.
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