London cocaine smugglers jailed

12 April 2012

Two women who tried to smuggle cocaine with a street value of £325,000 in shampoo bottles through an airport were today jailed for nine years each.

Sonia Stedman, 39, and Margaret Thomas, 50, were found to have 3.34 kilos of the drug hidden inside the bottles at Cardiff International Airport on February 7 this year.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how the pair were being paid £5,000 each to act as couriers - but they were stopped as they walked through control areas.

Prosecutor Jonathan Austin said the two women were passengers on an Air France flight from the Caribbean which had travelled via Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

The plane was due to land at Bristol airport but was diverted to Cardiff due to bad weather.

Mr Austin told the court: "Their respective bags were searched and officers found a large number of shampoo bottles.

"Miss Stedman had two bottles in her bag and Miss Thomas had three in hers.

"Each bottle appeared to contain a small amount of the original product and a plastic bag within."

Both women pleaded guilty to being knowingly concerned in fraudulently evading the prohibition of the importation of goods.

Caroline Poots, defending Thomas, said she acted out of desperation for cash and had an "underlying gambling addiction".

She said Thomas, of Kings Street, London, was remorseful for her actions.
Tom Crowther, defending Stedman, of Stoke Newington Road, Stoke Newington, north London, said she had laboured under a 10-year crack cocaine habit and had acted as a "foot soldier".

Both women had previous convictions dating back to the 1970s.

Judge Roderick Denyer QC said cocaine caused "devastation" to lives and communities.

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