Jersey Unreported Judgments

[2010]JRC185

ROYAL COURT

(Samedi Division)

11^th October 2010

The Attorney General

-v-

Adrian John Clarke

Sentencing by the Superior Number of the Royal Court, following a guilty plea to the following charge:

Age:  32.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

At around 7:30pm on the evening of Friday 4^th June 2010, customs officers stopped Clarke, who had arrived at Jersey Airport on a flight from London.  He said that he had travelled there that morning to visit an agency called Real Russia, as he was trying to get a visa for his Russian wife in order that she could travel to Jersey. 

Swabs were taken from his laptop computer and iPhone which were positive for cocaine.  Clarke admitted using the drug two months previously.  Nothing was found during a search of his luggage and clothing, but a urine test also showed the presence of cocaine, which he then admitted to having used two days before. 

He was arrested and cautioned on suspicion of having an internal concealment of drugs, and was taken to the General Hospital for x-ray.  As he got out of the customs vehicle at the Hospital, an officer saw a white plastic wrapped package drop to the floor at Clarke's feet.  The officer asked what it was and he replied "You know what that is.  Please don't do this to me".  He was cautioned once again and responded "Please don't do this to me guys, have some heart". 

Five packages had been concealed internally.  All contained cocaine, and on analysis the total weight was 63.28 grams, with an average of 60 per cent purity. 

Clarke was interviewed the following day and made full admissions to importing the drug.  While the story he had told prior to his arrest - that he was going to the UK to deal with a visa application for his Russian bride - was a lie, he claimed that this had been the original purpose of his trip. 

He said that he had booked his flights to and from London the day before, but changed his mind about going to Real Russia on the morning of travel, after he was contacted by someone on Friday at around 9:30am, not long before he was due to check in for his 11am flight.  He declined to name the person who contacted him, how he was contacted, or say what the substance of the conversation was, but his account is that he immediately abandoned the idea of seeking advice over his wife's visa, and instead adopted a plan to travel to Bethnal Green and buy two and a half ounces (approximately 70 grams, slightly more than he actually received) of cocaine. 

Clarke said in interview that his cocaine use could be anywhere between four and eleven grams per week, and he has been using the drug regularly for the past ten or eleven years.  He was assessed as being at low risk of re-offending and low risk of harm to the public, although this risk increases should he return to drug use. 

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty plea; personal use; co-operative; not dealing and not a drug trafficking case. 

Previous Convictions:

None relevant. 

Conclusions:

Forfeiture and destruction of drugs sought. 

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Forfeiture and destruction of drugs ordered. 

R. C. P. Pedley, Esq., Crown Advocate.

Advocate J. M. Grace for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE commissioner:

1.        Clarke has pleaded guilty to the importation of 63 grams of high quality cocaine which the Crown has accepted was for personal use given his high consumption of the drug over a period of time.  He has indeed been a user of cocaine for many years.  As has been said before in this Court, the quantity of the drug, even though for personal use, was such that there was a risk that some of it might have found its way into the hands of others. 

2.        Defence counsel has accepted that on the authorities a starting point of 9 years' imprisonment is correct and we adopt that figure.  The question therefore is what allowances should be made for the mitigating factors.  The defendant pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and was co-operative with the investigating officers, and we think that in this case the full one third discount is appropriate for the guilty plea.  We remind ourselves that this is not a drug trafficking case; there is no evidence from the search of the premises or examination of the mobile telephone, that any dealing has been taking place.  We think that the fact of the importation for personal use and the other mitigation available to the defendant justify a small reduction in the conclusions for which the Crown has moved. 

3.        Clarke, you have taken risks for a very long time and this time the gamble has failed with catastrophic results for you.  We are glad to note from the papers that you seem to have resolved to take this as a wake-up call and that when you leave prison you will start afresh and keep away from drugs.  We have read all the references placed before us, many of which are impressive, and we have to punish you for this offence. 

4.        The sentence of the Court is that you will go to prison for 4 years.

5.        We order the confiscation and destruction of the drugs. 

Authorities

Rimmer-v-AG [2001] JLR 373.

Shahnowaz-v-AG [2007] JLR 221.

AG-v-Fernandes and Figueira [2007] JRC 221.

AG-v-Frazer [2003] JLR N55.