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A man has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for his involvement in the importation of nearly a quarter-of-a-million pounds' worth of cocaine and cannabis resin.
Christopher Beare (36) appeared in the Royal Court for sentencing after pleading guilty to two counts of drug importation.
The first count was for 1,121 grams of cocaine mixed with MDMA and the second count was for 3,854 grams of cannabis resin. Both were joint charges with Hannah Willey and Karli Wellington.
Willey and Wellington had already been sentenced separately to Beare. Willey was given a sentence of 10 years and six months. Wellington's sentence was eight years and six months.
Willey attempted to appeal her sentence, claiming it was excessive, but leave to appeal was denied.
Willey and Wellington arrived in Guernsey on a Condor vessel on 8 November 2019. They were stopped by customs officers and questioned. When swabs of their bags showed traces of cocaine, the car was searched and the drugs hidden inside were found.
Meanwhile, Beare had arrived in Guernsey on 6 November 2019 with an outbound flight booked for 8 November.
Border agents first made the link between Beare, Willey and Wellington after they found a bag in the two women’s car with the name of Beare’s fitness company on it. In addition, one of the two women said their ferry tickets had been booked through a cousin - Beare.
It transpired that Beare had collected his bags from his hotel while events involving Willey and Wellington were unfolding and had gone to Guernsey Airport to book himself on an earlier flight out of the island. He was found there by Guernsey Border Agency officers and arrested on suspicion on importation.
The case against Beare was comprehensively laid out in court by Crown Advocate Chris Dunford. Evidence gathered from the women’s phones was an essential part of the case.
Willey and Wellington’s phones had been confiscated. Willey did not give up the PIN to her phone but Wellington did. Beare refused to give the PIN to his phone and Guernsey Police were unable to get into it. However, they were able – with specialist help – to get into Willey’s phone.
Pictured: The confiscated phones from Willey and Wellington proved integral to the case against Beare.
The two accessible phones provided a stream of dialogue between the two ‘couriers’ – Willey and Wellington – and a third party.
The phone conversations revealed that Willey and Wellington were originally booked to come to Guernsey on 7 November. However, a puncture forced them to change their plans, stay an extra night in Poole and come to Guernsey on 8 November.
The phone conversations also mentioned payment, cuts and the third party being the 'boss' of the importation operation.
Throughout the investigation, Beare consistently denied that he was the third party. He claimed that his phone had been stolen. However, working with police in Devon and Cornwall, police officers in Guernsey managed to link Beare to the third party's phone number.
The prosecution said that Beare played a substantial role in overseeing and organising the attempted importation.
He was charged on 9 November 2019 and has been held on remand since that date. On 5 March 2020, he pleaded not guilty to all counts. But on 13 May 2020, he changed his plea to guilty.
Pictured: It is estimated that the street value of the drugs could have been up to £280,000.
If Beare had maintained his not guilty plea, the trial was expected to have been lengthy and expensive, with potentially as many as 12 witnesses being called.
Crown Advocate Dunford said that Beare’s credibility had been irreparably damaged because his story had changed so much.
In his defence, Advocate Sam Steele said that Beare had been evasive simply to protect other people who had been involved, including members of his own family.
He said Beare had been under overwhelming pressure not to disclose the involvement of others and that he was clearly not the mastermind of the operation. He said that Beare has Asperger's Syndrome and that he had been surrounded by bad influences who had used him.
Judge Russell Finch was unimpressed with Beare.
“You have lied throughout this case,” he said.
Pictured: “There has been an extensive history to this case… the delays have not been down to the courts,” said Judge Russell Finch.
“This is one of the very largest importations I’ve seen in 33 years as an advocate.
“You are not on the facts a person rendered naïve by your condition. You are a calculated man, looking to profit off other people’s misfortune.”
Beare was sentenced to 19 years in Les Nicolles to be served from his first day on remand, which was 9 November 2019.
Appeal refused in Guernsey's largest Class A importation case
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