Jailed for 19 years for £280k drug importation

Christopher Beare, 33, from Cornwall, admitted being concerned in importation of class A and B drugs in November 2019.

He was described in the Royal Court as a fluent and inveterate liar who had sought to minimise his involvement in the enterprise. Much of the blame for the delay in the case reaching court rested with him.

His co-accused, Hannah Willey and Karlie Wellington, who brought the drugs to the island as couriers, had admitted the offences and were sentenced in October 2020. But Beare denied his part until May last year and had put the prosecution to a large amount of extra work.

Packages of a mix of cocaine and MDMA, and cannabis resin, weighed 1,120.1 grams and 3,854.4 grams respectively.

They had local street values in Guernsey of up to £168,000 and £115,000 respectively.

Beare had multiple previous convictions, including offences involving drug possession and supply, armed robbery, and causing grievous bodily harm.

At the time of his arrest he was subject to an ‘indefinite sentence for public protection’, imposed by a UK court for possessing an imitation firearm while committing a robbery. These offences had put him in breach of that.

Advocate Samuel Steel, defending, said his client had been evasive as there had been an overwhelming pressure on him not to get others in to trouble.

He had not been at the top of the chain in this enterprise but had been acting under instruction from others. He had not been involved in the planning and had just been there to help the couriers.

‘We say he was not the criminal mastermind pulling strings at the top of the operation but was, in his own words, a dogsbody,’ said Advocate Steel.

He argued that Beare, diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum, was the perfect candidate to be set up for such an exercise. He had spent most of his life in overstretched UK prisons and did not believe in retribution for drug offending.

Lt-Bailiff Russell Finch said the defendant had not seen the misery that class A drugs caused like the court had.

He said Beare’s lying had caused an extensive amount of work to the prosecution. A Newton hearing, which had been due to last for two weeks and involved UK officers, and a previous sentencing date, both had to be vacated. He had sought constantly to minimise his responsibility in this case.

This was one of the largest importations of class A drugs that he could recall in his 33 years in Guernsey as both an advocate and a judge. This had been ‘stone cold wickedness’ on the defendant’s part and ‘society deserved a rest’ from his activities. He commended Law Enforcement and the prosecution.

Beare was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the class A importation with four years, concurrent, for the cannabis. Forfeiture and destruction of the drug was ordered. No evidence was offered to a charge of failing to provide the code to access his mobile phone, which he had denied.