Couple Jailed For Heroin Smuggling

Two people from Weymouth have been jailed for smuggling heroin into the Channel Islands.

31-year-old David Shields from Kirkilton Avenue and 24-year-old Emma Pring from Canberra Crescent in Littlemore appeared before the Guernsey Royal Court on Wednesday 15th February 2012.

They both pleaded guilty to importing the class A drug diamorphine (commonly known as Heroin) into Guernsey - the court heard they smuggled the heroin together.

Shields was jailed for 8 years and 6 months, while Pring was sentenced to 6 years.

Shields also pleaded guilty to the importation of the Class C drug diazepam. He was given a prison term of 2 years to run concurrently.

He was already known to the Guernsey authorities having been convicted in 2006 for importing ecstasy and crack cocaine into the Island. At the time of his arrest he was also on bail for supplying crack cocaine.

On the 14th July 2011, the pair travelled to Guernsey from Weymouth by ferry. On arrival in Guernsey, they disembarked separately. Pring was also travelling with a three year child. They were stopped and examined by officers of the Guernsey Border Agency.

When questioned about importing drugs, Pring became concerned about the consequences to the child, and then removed a package of heroin from inside her jeans.

Shields was detained and taken to the Princess Elizabeth hospital by ambulance for a medical examination. Over the next couple of days he was found to have concealed two packages containing heroin and diazepam.

Judge Finch, in his summing up said he was dismayed that a young child had been used in this venture and that he could not understand why Shields who has previously been sentenced by the Royal Court of Guernsey to over six years imprisonment in 2006 for importing Class A drugs into Guernsey, would attempt a similar venture knowing the severity of Guernsey’s sentencing.