05/12/2007 00:00:00
UK: Mum disguised cannabis as buttons on skirt
---
A mother tried to smuggle cannabis to her son in jail disguised as
buttons on her skirt.
Guards became suspicious after seeing Sharon Geal, 42, fiddling with her
clothes during a visit at Lewes Prison.
Three button-shaped lumps of cannabis, with holes threaded with cotton,
were found on the floor where she had been sitting.
advertisement
At Lewes Crown Court Geal, a mother-of-three, admitted possessing
cannabis with intent to supply and was given a suspended prison sentence.
The court heard Geal, who has no previous convictions, was caught during
a visit to her 25-year-old son Mark, who is on remand awaiting trial, on
August 30.
Dianne Gordon-Bassett, prosecuting, said a CCTV operator watching the
visitors room noticed she kept touching the front of her skirt and then
holding something in her hands.
The guards were alerted and the three "buttons" were found on the floor.
They had been sewn into the waistband of her skirt.
The drugs had a street value of £5.
When interviewed by police Geal said she had taken the drugs to the jail
because she feared for the safety of her son and she believed if she
gave him the cannabis he could bribe people to leave him alone.
She claimed she became too scared to hand over the cannabis and planned
to drop the drugs behind a vending machine in the visitors room.
Daniel Murray, defending, said Geal, of Horley, Surrey, and her family
had suffered from health and personal problems. He said: "She made this
ridiculous decision to smuggle in £5 of cannabis to her son without him
asking for it."
He said the drugs had been left behind when a lodger moved out of her house.
Judge Charles Kemp told her it was an incredibly stupid and criminal act.
She was sentenced to nine months in jail suspended for two years and
ordered to carry out 80 hours unpaid work in the community.
http://www.theargus.co.uk/
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=13061
Author:
The Argus via UKCIA
|