Heroin smuggler sentenced to two years in prison

Monday 05 March 2018

A man who smuggled heroin into Jersey when he was "visiting his children" has been handed a two-year prison sentence.

John Rankin Coll (53) from Scotland was stopped by customs officers when he flew over to Jersey from Glasgow on 28 October 2017, stating that he was in the island to visit his two children.

Coll admitted to possessing a small quantity of prescribed methadone, but had nothing else to declare. After a personal search didn’t find anything, he was admitted to the General Hospital for a scan of his abdomen where the radiologist detected "something suspicious."

He was held over night, and the next morning he excreted a package of 4.36 grams of white powder - containing less than 1% of heroin - wrapped in a green balloon. Its estimated the drug's value was between £800 and £4,350.

During an interview with Customs Officers, Coll said he had planned to stay in the island for a week and he had only booked the trip three weeks before, which he paid for by cash. He has since admitted that he imported the drugs to clear a family member's debt, and was told to give them to an unnamed individual.

During sentencing, Crown Advocate Conrad Yates requested the Royal Court to sentence Coll to two-years imprisonment, saying that although the quantity, value and purity of the drug is very low, “...the defendant’s intention was to supply the drugs to someone else and not for personal use. He had no knowledge of the quality of the heroin himself.”

Advocate Christina Hall, defending Coll, asked the court to consider the purity of the imported heroin, requesting a lesser custodial sentence of 18 months, or even a community service order which he has successfully completed before for previous convictions. She told the court: “In the past his offending has not involved imprisonment. His time in prison here in Jersey away from his partner in Glasgow and his flat has had a sobering effect on him.”

Royal Court Commissioner Julian Clyde Smith said there were, “no exceptional factors that justify such a course” in relation to the community service request.

Instead he handed Coll a two-year prison sentence saying the, “...defendants’ intention was to import heroin, adding to supply in the island. It is no thanks to him the purity transpired to be so low.”