Visitor had cocaine worth more than £18,000

Lee Royle, 37, pictured, admitted importing a total of 122.88g of the class A drug, and failing to provide the pass code of an iPhone to law enforcement.

The Royal Court heard how he brought in four packages – three of which were concealed internally – and had been abusive and threatening to Border Agency officers as his crime unravelled.

He had numerous previous convictions for which he had served custodial sentences but nothing drug-related.

In 2016 at Manchester Crown Court he had been jailed for eight years for robbery and GBH.

Prosecuting Advocate Jenny McVeigh told the court the defendant had arrived on a flight from Gatwick on the morning of 16 September.

He went through the green channel but a drug detection dog gave a positive signal for illegal substances. Royle told officers he had come to Guernsey for two nights but had not booked return travel. He had been here twice before, he said, and had stayed at the same hotel, though he could not remember its name.

When asked if he used drugs he said he used ‘sniff’ which Advocate McVeigh said was a reference to cocaine. Officers noted he was on edge.

When taken to a search room he responded aggressively. He refused to remove his jumper and made physical threats towards officers which led to him being handcuffed. As they removed his clothing a package fell to the floor.

It was suspected he had drugs concealed internally so he was taken to hospital. He refused to be X-rayed and said he intended to waste as much of people’s time as possible. He continued to make violent threats and said he would rather the packages burst than let law enforcement have them.

But later he calmed down, the handcuffs were removed, and a total of four packages were recovered.

The following day he apologised for his behaviour and said he would be ‘going guilty’.

Defending, Advocate Samuel Steel said his client recognised that internal concealment was unpleasant for officers and a drain on hospital resources. He was generally uncooperative as he was still under the influence of cocaine at the time.

He had a long-standing problem with drug abuse and had agreed to the importation to clear a drug debt. His family were in danger if he refused.

Lt-Bailiff Russell Finch said this was a story that the court had heard before.

The 2016 robbery had also been to repay a drug debt.

‘You told the probation service that you did not care about the impact that your offending had on others – we do,’ said Lt-Bailiff Finch.

Royle was jailed for nine years for the importation, plus nine months consecutive for withholding his pass code.