AG v Lane [2024] JRC 188 (17 September 2024)

JUDGMENT THE DEPUTY BAILIFF: 1. We adjourn the question of confiscation and make a destruction and forfeiture order in relation to the drugs.

2. Andrew Christopher Lane, you are 45 years old and have no relevant previous convictions.

3. On 2 April 2024, you arrived in Jersey by ferry in a van which you had hired. You were driving the vehicle and there were two male passengers with you. You said that you had come to Jersey to work. You and your colleagues said that you had nothing to declare to the Customs officer to whom you spoke. However, concealed within a toolbox in the van was a taped package. Once this had been located, you indicated that it contained cocaine and that the two other people with you had nothing to do with the contents.

4. The contents were cocaine weighing 491 grams with a high purity of 84% and a street value in Jersey of between £75,000 and £125,000.

5. When interviewed, you made no comment but you pleaded guilty to the offence with which you were subsequently indicted at the first opportunity when you appeared in the Magistrate's Court the following day. Accordingly, you will receive full credit for that plea of guilty.

6. Evidently you were offered money, £5,000, to import this cocaine which you intended to use to discharge some of the debts that you had accrued in a family case before the English Courts. You accept your responsibility for what you did.

7. Both counsel and the Court agree that the appropriate starting point for this offence is one of 15 years' imprisonment.

8. According to the Probation Officer you are at low risk of future re-offending. You have a strong and impressive work record and we accept that your remorse for this offending is genuine. We have read with care the moving correspondence we have received from your wife and note that you have a baby daughter who is only a year old. They, and of course the other members of your family who depend upon you, are the innocent victims of your offending. Your mother described this offending as completely out of character and we accept that.

9. In your letter to the Court, you say that if you had thought this through and understood the consequences then your life would now be different. We hope that your experience will be a lesson to others and hopefully deter them from importing dangerous Class A drugs into this Island. We note that you intend to use your time in prison constructively and indeed have done so to date. Your record on remand has been exemplary.

10. The least sentence the Court can impose and the sentence that we do impose is one of 8 years and 3 months' imprisonment. Authorities Customs and Excise (Jersey) Law 1999 Proceeds of Crime (Jersey) Law 1999 Rimmer v AG [2001] JLR 373 Page Last Updated: 18 Oct 2024 Back to top About JLIB Accessibility Contacts Copyright Disclaimer Feedback Privacy policy Site map BAILII: Copyright Policy | Disclaimers | Privacy Policy | Feedback | Donate to BAILII