Joint venture: British woman caught with cannabis stash walks free
Judge said she was ‘perilously close’ to prison over huge cannabis haul
A British woman has narrowly escaped jail after being busted smuggling nearly 50 kilogrammes of cannabis into the UK following a trip to Thailand, prompting a judge to ask, “What possessed you?”
Lauren Martin, from Liverpool, was stopped by Border Force officers at Manchester Airport on April 5 this year after arriving on a flight from Thailand. When questioned about her luggage, she insisted it only contained clothes. But officers weren’t convinced.
Inside her large suitcase, officials uncovered a staggering 31 vacuum-sealed bags filled with cannabis, weighing in at a hefty 49 kilogrammes.
“She was arrested and interviewed, and told officers she went to Thailand for a week backpacking,” said prosecutor Elizabeth Walker. “She said she met two people in a hotel and went out drinking. One of them asked her to take some clothes back for their girlfriend. She claimed she didn’t check the cases because it didn’t feel right to do so.”
Thirty-one year old Martin had been living on Universal Credit and was under an electronically monitored curfew from 7pm to 7am in the lead-up to her sentencing.
Her defence lawyer, Betsy Hindle, said she had been manipulated and was vulnerable at the time.
But Judge Paul Lawton didn’t hold back.
“I have no idea what possessed you to try and bring 49 kilos of cannabis into this country,” he said. “You say there was no reward in it for you — I’m not convinced that is true. I accept you were naïve and pressured by others.
“You need to understand how perilously close you came to going to prison. If this had been anything other than class B, you would have been going to prison for years and years.”
Despite the severity of the crime, the judge said he believed Martin was “capable of rehabilitation.” He handed her a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered her to complete 100 hours of unpaid work, reported Daily Post UK.
Martin had earlier pleaded guilty to being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of a class B drug.
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She needs to buy some lotto tickets! Talk about LUCKY!!!