Tried to smuggle £68,000-worth of drugs into island

John Glynn, 51, admitted importing 1,339 tablets of the class A substance MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy, and 959 grams of the class C drug cannabis resin.

Crown advocate Fiona Russell told the Royal Court how the defendant and his son, 27, arrived in Guernsey on a flight from Gatwick on 15 December last year. When questioned, the defendant said he had come for two days. He planned to meet a friend, Mike Douglas, in a local pub. They had known one another for 10 or 11 years, having originally met in London.

Glynn was travelling with a small suitcase with a black plastic back. He said he had packed his bag himself and he was not carrying illegal drugs. There was a raised panel in the rear of the suitcase covered in a thin layer of plastic and two bottles of shampoo which seemed heavier than normal. An X-ray of the suitcase showed 10 solid rectangular shapes. Glynn said it was cannabis but denied that it was his and he was arrested. At a separate bench, customs officers were looking through his son’s baggage.

Glynn approached and said two shampoo bottles that were in there were his and he had packed them without his son’s knowledge.

The MDMA which was contained in the four shampoo bottles had a local street value of between £26,780 and £40,000 while the cannabis was worth between £19,000 and £28,000.

In interview, Glynn said he had agreed to bring the drugs to Guernsey to wipe out a £1,500 drug debt which he had owed for four months. He admitted using cocaine. He was given £400 to £500 to cover the costs of accommodation plus £180 to £200 for his travel.

He admitted making up the name of Mike Douglas but said he had been due to meet someone at the Town pub who was aged about 25-30, though he would not say who. The person who had given him the suitcase was not the same one who had persuaded him to carry out the importations.

He gave police the passwords to his phone and iPad and said the deals relating to the drugs had been done in person. There were two or three individuals who knew where he lived and he had felt under pressure to do it.

‘I know what would have happened if I didn’t,’ he said.

Glynn had been convicted of two drug possession offences in 1988 and was jailed for 15 months in 1997 for two counts of occasioning bodily harm.

Advocate Samuel Steel said his client had co-operated with police throughout. He was in fear of punishment from a notorious London gang. In 2019, he had suffered bereavement twice. He had been drinking heavily and, as a result, had lost his job. He now realised he had been suffering from unresolved grief at the death of his youngest daughter when he was in his 20s. He had used harder drugs to null the emotional pain and he was now keen to address his substance abuse. He understood that the role of courier was a vital one and that the crime was detrimental to a small community such as Guernsey’s.

His actions were selfish, weak and thoughtless. He planned to cut his ties with drug associates. Character references from his partner, his daughter and his former employer were submitted.

Deputy Bailiff Richard McMahon said this was quite a significant importation. There was a degree of sophistication as the defendant had taken steps to spread the risk of detection. It was an example of how much others could exert pressure on people who ran up drug debts.

‘The enormity of what you have got yourself involved in must have dawned on you by now,’ he said.

‘You knew full well what you were doing and involving your son as a decoy was a callous thing to do.’

Glynn was jailed for eight years for the MDMA offence with two half years, concurrent, for the cannabis. The sentence will run from 15 December when he was remanded.

Forfeiture and destruction of the drugs was ordered and a drug trafficking investigation will now take place.