Drug sentencing guidelines "like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut"

Saturday 05 June 2021

A 30-year-old has been handed a lengthy suspended sentence after bringing some cannabis back on the boat with her last summer.

Christine White was travelling back to Guernsey from Portsmouth on 31 July.

Border agency staff stopped the car she was travelling in as a passenger and a search of her handbag revealed a tubular package containing 18.17g of cannabis.

She was arrested and bailed that day and was subsequently charged for importation on 25 September. 

White formally pleaded guilty on 8 April and hauled before the Royal Court. The street value of the drugs in Guernsey was estimated to be between £363 and £545.

Pictured: White was arrested after returning to the island from Portsmouth on the Clipper.

Advocate Paul Lockwood argued that the tough stance set out by the Richards Guidelines is like using a “sledgehammer to crack a nut”. He also cited White’s mental and physical health problems.

“You will rarely see someone as vulnerable as my client,” he said. “Things started off well, but things got very bad for her as she got older.”

Advocate Lockwood argued that the amount of cannabis was modest at best – “it could fit snugly in a clenched fist.”

Judge Catherine Fooks made it clear to White before sentencing – “to put you at ease” – that the Royal Court would be looking to impose a suspended sentence.

Judge Fooks then spent time discussing possible probation orders with an officer in the court, concerned that there was no definitive framework currently in place to support the defendant. 

The Judge and Jurats retired to discuss sentencing options twice before coming to a final sentence: 15 months in prison, suspended for two years.

It was decided that no probation or supervisory order could compel her to seek the relevant help.