Community service and fine for drug importing chef

Tuesday 11 December 2018

Despite sending cannabis to himself through the post, hidden in a jar of peanut butter, and then refusing to give police officers his mobile phone PIN code, a Sark chef had a very "narrow escape" and wasn't sent straight to prison.

Judge Russell Finch told Callum Hall that next time he will be "going down the steps" after instead giving him the maximum community service sentence he could, along with a big fine.

Pictured: Guernsey's court building. 

Hall appeared before the Royal Court yesterday where he admitted two counts of importing cannabis, cultivating a cannabis plant and failing to disclose information to police investigating his crimes during their ongoing enquiries.

The 29-year-old had originally been arrested in April, after Customs Officers doing routine checks at Guernsey Post intercepted a parcel being sent to Hall's home address in Sark.

Undoing the re-packaged Amazon box they found a jar of Tesco peanut butter inside. The foil seal had been disturbed and further inspections proved there was another package inside the peanut butter. That was found to contain cannabis.

Hall was stopped as he tried to board a boat back to Sark the following day, and another, smaller, package of cannabis was found in a coat pocket inside his suitcase.

During police questioning he initially refused to give officers access to either phone or his laptop and he was quoted in the court as saying; "This will all be a thing of the past in a couple of year's time," referring to the ongoing efforts to get the drug legalised. 

After speaking with a lawyer he gave Guernsey Police a statement admitting his guilt, saying he had sent the parcel of peanut butter containing cannabis to himself, while he had been on a trip to visit family in the UK. He said it was for personal use only and his defence lawyer later said that it would have been enough to last him for four days based on the amount he was smoking at the time.

In total, Hall admitted four charges which included importing just under 24g of cannabis, with a street value of a maximum of £712. That included more than 21g posted to himself (count 1) and 2.5g in his coat pocket (count 2). A search of his home in Sark also found an immature cannabis plant, growing under a lamp in a wardrobe lined with foil (count 3). 

Pictured: Hall refused to give police access to his mobile phone and laptop, although they managed to access his laptop and found no evidence of wrong doing. 

Hall's fourth charge was treated seriously by the court as he continued to refuse to allow Guernsey Police access to his mobile phone even after he had admitted his guilt. While officers managed to get into his laptop, where they found nothing of note, he would not let them look at his phone.

Hall's defence lawyer, Sam Steel, said this was because he had confidential client details on his phone which he did not want anyone else seeing. As well as being a chef he runs an online/social media business - but Judge Finch took a very dim view of Hall's excuse for not giving officers his phone PIN code.

In sentencing, Judge Finch said the Royal Court accepted the importation of cannabis and the growing of the cannabis plant were both for personal use - but that there were a number of "aggravating factors."

They included using "cunning" to use the smell of peanut butter to hide the scent of the cannabis, and the abuse of the postal system to send the drugs. 

However, Judge Finch told Hall that the court was "troubled" by his refusal to allow access to his phone. He acknowledged his business interests, but told Hall he must have something to hide. 

"Why did you not comply?" - Judge Russell Finch. 

The court accepted Hall was of previous impeccable character and it also acknowledged the many character references his defence lawyer presented to the court, including from the Sark Constable and others in the island who said Hall was an asset to the small community. 

While the court accepted the drugs were for personal use, Judge Finch said it wasn't a small amount, but he did also say they accepted that Hall had addressed his drug dependency issues and was seeing beneficial changes to his behaviour.

Taking all of the mitigation into account, Judge Finch handed down a total sentence for the two importation charges, and the growing charge, of 240 hours community service which must all be completed within one year or he'll have to serve 15 months in prison.

When it came to the charge of failing to disclose information, Judge Finch again showed the court's displeasure with Hall saying they had to issue sanctions to stop other people defying the law.

He handed down a six month prison sentence, suspended for two years - along with a fine of £3,000. Judge Finch refused to accept a payment plan over nine months, giving Hall just six months to pay it all off saying "it's meant to hurt, it's instead of going down the steps."

Judge Finch closed the hearing by telling Hall; "you're walking today, just about.

"You've had a very narrow escape. If you come back before me, your feet won't touch the ground."

Pictured top: Importing cannabis using a jar of peanut butter led to a court appearance for Callum Hall (file images).