Persistent cigarette smuggler spared jail
12.01.09
A woman who persistently smuggled cigarettes into the UK in exchange for foreign holidays has been spared jail, the Echo reports. Margaret Webb, of Low Downs Road, Hetton, was in court after she evaded almost £10,000 in duty by bringing 54,000 cigarettes and more than a kilogram of tobacco into the country.
Newcastle Crown Court heard that the 57-year-old was caught at three airports between October 2007 and June 2008. On October 19, 2007, she was stopped by customs at East Midlands Airport with 19,600 cigarettes and 400g of tobacco, but initially escaped with a warning. On February 1, 2008, she was stopped by customs at Stansted with 17,400 cigarettes, and again escaped with a warning. It was after she was caught again at Cardiff Airport on June 14, 2008, with 17,000 cigarettes and 800g of tobacco that she was prosecuted for all three trips.
Judge Tony Lancaster sentenced Webb to a community order for 12 months with supervision. He said: ‘It is sad to see a mature woman like yourself, who has led a blameless life for so many years, lend herself to being suborned into offending this way. I accept you were very depressed and thereby more vulnerable to temptation offered of some time abroad in exchange for the returning of the cigarettes.’
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