Woman cleared of £400k drug import by 5-4 majority
Monday 11th February 2013, 10:00AM GMT.
A HAMPSHIRE woman sobbed as she was acquitted of importing drugs worth more than £400,000 by the narrowest margin.
After nearly two hours of deliberation, senior Jurat David Le Conte told the Royal Court that he and his colleagues had found Coleen Kelly, 52, not guilty on all five charges by majority 5-4 decisions.
On 29 July last year, the defendant arrived in St Peter Port on a Condor ferry from Poole.
In the boot of her car was a gift-wrapped package, about 2ft x 1ft. It was found to contain more than 5,000 Ecstasy tablets, 12kg of cannabis resin, and three different types of steroid.
She denied all knowledge of the package claiming that it had been put in the boot of the car by her co-accused and boyfriend, Stephen Risbridger. He has admitted five counts of drug importation and is in prison awaiting sentencing.
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A very very lucky lady
Now go back and spread the news in the UK that illegal drugs are not welcome here ( except by the few brain dead TIG contributors who will say otherwise)
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Crikey Ray, I can visualise you spitting your coffee all over your Daily Mail when you read about this. What gives you the insight to say that she was very very lucky? Surely she’s been anything but lucky having spent over six months remanded in custody when she did nothing wrong?
As for illegal drugs not being welcome here, I think you’ll find that rather than a “few brain dead TIG contributors” being at odds with your view, the number actually runs into many thousands. We’re not all as thick as a stack of Daily Mails, believing all the rubbish written by right wing moral crusaders with no real knowledge of the subject at hand.
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Didn’t take long for the first one to show up
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If I’m “brain dead” then I dread to think what you are.
Carry on reading the Daily Heil and getting outraged by the way that “drug takers” are taking over our treasured conservative land. Hypocritical tripe, swallowed with vigour by the dumbfounded fools who read this rubbish.
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How quickly the brain dead forget …
http://www.thisisguernsey.com/news/2013/02/06/drug-concern-sees-14-more-addicts/
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The only ‘dumbfounded fools’ are the ones that take illegal drugs.
So, Indie, if there is so many thousands of drug users on the island then why are they still illegal?
Because they screw up lives.
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Kevin, surely that depends on the severity of the drug.
Alcohol ruins lives, it’s still legal. I have seen loads of people go down the road of no return. They drink to the point that there is nothing left of their mind. They talk to themselves, they get angry, frustrated and it more often than not leads to death.
Are illegal drugs really so much worse than legal drugs? Is cannabis more harmful than alcohol?
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Kevin, drugs can screw up peoples lives, just like alcohol and tobacco, but not everyone who takes illegal drugs has their life screwed up (just the same as with booze and fags).
You would be surprised at how many people in Guernsey who have well paid jobs, great careers and a family life, and who like the occasional toke of a spliff or the odd dabble of coke or MDMA.
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Oh and for the record I’m not pro-drugs I just thought your comments deserved a little more thought.
I think Indie may be correct when he cites the Daily Mail as the reason for your views.
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Oh Dear
Thanks for the support but I’m afraid you’re wasting you’re time asking people like Kevin and Ray to use logic when it comes to drugs, if there’s one thing the Dail Heil relies upon it’s the stupidity of its readers. Only a couple of weeks ago a local man who I went to school with died through alcohol abuse (in his 40s) but of course alcohol can’t be a dangerous drug as it’s legal, just like tobacco. Their argument is nonsensical but they will repeat it endlessly are they are too stupid to do anything else.
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If the lady was innocent then she will almost certainly go to court.If she was guilty,although found not guilty,then she is very fortunate.And as for the point that there may be many thousands of drug supporters roaming our streets,or sitting behind the wheel of a car,well,Guernsey Police,keep at it!
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Wow! £400k of gear in her car & a bag of coke stuffed in her bra, makes you wonder what you actually need to do to to be proved guilty.
I thought we had a zero tolerance policy here?
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What concerns me is how can there be such a divide in opinion between the Jurats.
They all saw the same evidence but came to different conclusions.
I could understand if it was a jury made up from the local population as in the UK, but these are profession educated people who have a lot of experience as regards trials and disseminating the evidence.
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A small amount of coke found in her Bra.
I wonder how that got there? Not totally innocent then ?
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If I was a bird and I was caught with coke in my bra there’s only one thing I could say:
‘Yes officer, it’s a fair cup!’
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5-4 hardly a majority
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