A man and woman have been jailed for trying to smuggle cocaine with a street value of £1.75 million in holdalls into the UK via Heathrow airport.
Michael Williams, 37, and Jessica Waldron, 36, planned to hand over the 22kg haul during a rendezvous near Terminal 2 after arriving from Colombia on 14 December 2019.
Unbeknown to them, Colombian authorities had intercepted the drugs, replaced them with wooden blocks before the plane took off and alerted the UK’s National Crime Agency.
The pair were arrested after being seen entering the airport toilets with two bags and leaving without them after stepping off their flight from Bogota, Isleworth Crown Court heard.
The defendants were two couriers who were recruited into and played their part in a criminal enterprise to import 22kg of cocaine into the United Kingdom from Colombia— Prosecutor John Ojakovoh
Parts of the planned handover had been organised through the encrypted messaging platform EncroChat, on which they were instructed to dress in specific clothing and pose as a couple by holding hands on arrival for identification purposes.
Phones belonging to Waldron were seized after she was detained, with one containing a message from 9 November reading: “Hey Jess, it’s D, got something real nice for you and Mike.”
She replied: “Ok.”
Waldron and Williams both pleaded guilty to being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of a class A drug two days after their arrest.
Prosecutor John Ojakovoh said: “The defendants were two couriers who were recruited into and played their part in a criminal enterprise to import 22kg of cocaine into the United Kingdom from Colombia.
“That would have had a street value of about £1.75m.”
Detailing the attempted handover, he said: “There was a rendezvous. They followed [a third person] to the toilet area, having deviated from what had been the natural route for arrivals, and then they were seen going in with holdalls containing the blocks.
“They came out without the holdalls.”
The prosecutor said Waldron acted as the “lead” courier, liaising with the Colombian side of the operation and others in the chain of command.
“Jessica Waldron and Michael Williams had arrived in a prepared way wearing clothes they had been photographed in for identification purposes and held hands as if they were a couple – as they were instructed to do via an EncroChat message they received as they arrived,” Mr Ojakovoh said.
Tom Blackburn, representing the defendants, said they had a smaller role in the wider enterprise and were “following orders” from more senior players.
It is my submission that the defendants - both of them - were acting under the direction of others, who would only have told them as much as they needed to know to carry out their specific role, because to give them any further information would have effectively been redundant— Tom Blackburn, defending
“It is my submission that the defendants – both of them – were acting under the direction of others, who would only have told them as much as they needed to know to carry out their specific role, because to give them any further information would have effectively been redundant,” he said.
Mr Blackburn said Waldron and Williams were class A drug users at the time of the offence and motivated in part by a desire to fund their addictions.
They have since kicked their habits and made efforts to reform themselves while in prison, he said.
Waldron was supported in court by four family members, including her mother and brother, as she sat in the dock alongside Williams at a sentencing hearing on Monday.
“They all attend with their love and support for Ms Waldron,” Mr Blackburn said.
Waldron and Williams, both of Holly Hall, Dudley, were each sentenced to six years and eight months imprisonment.
Passing sentence, Recorder Christopher Stone said he had taken into account the “significant quantity of drugs” concerned but said both defendants appear to have “changed for the better” while behind bars.
“You must have had some awareness and understanding of the scale of the operation you were involved in,” he said.
“You did this with the expectation of financial advantage.”
NCA Heathrow operations manager Darren Barr said: “Organised crime groups need couriers like Waldron and Williams for their business model to function.
“Their role is crucial in a chain that starts with the cartels that produce drugs in South America and ends with violent street gangs in UK towns and cities.
“I hope the sentences handed out today make those who would consider getting involved in such an enterprise think again. It simply isn’t worth it.”
