Post Manager faces "very serious consequences" after importing steroids

Monday 09 August 2021

A 32-year-old postal worker who purchased steroids for the first time shortly before lockdown got caught importing the Class C drugs online when the local supply dried up.

Grant Smith was a Manager at Guernsey Post at the time of the offences last June, when he was charged with importation of three performance enhancing drugs - nandrolone, methandienone and stanazolol.

Text messages and bank transactions between Smith and his supplier - which were revealed following his arrest - were read out by Crown Advocate Rory Calderwood in Court as evidence. 

They revealed Smith placing an order of Class C drugs on 7 June, followed by a bank transaction to a named account the next day. The order number on the package that then arrived on 9 June matched that which was sent to Smith and saved into his iPhone's 'notes'.

That afternoon, Smith turned up at Envoy House despite not being due at work. He asked a colleague questions about a package for "a friend", which the worker didn't know about. 

The package - which was addressed to a home which he believed to be unoccupied - was intercepted by the Guernsey Border Agency and investigated. The padded envelope contained two liquid vials of nandrolone and numerous boxes of the other two drugs. The Court heard that the contents amounted to a 12-week steroid cycle. 

Pictured: The Court heard that undeliverable mail was placed on a table outside of Smith's office back when he was a Manager at Envoy House. 

After pleading guilty, Smith said the illegal substances were imported solely for personal use. This has not accepted by the prosecution, which has demanded a further drugs trafficking investigation.

Advocate Calderwood argued that Smith had deliberately addressed the package to a different name and address to stop it being linked back to him. Doing this could have led to the property's owner or a named former tenant being arrested on suspicion of drug offences they had nothing to do with.  

The Crown Advocate argued the defendant had abused his position and breach his employer's trust. "He was given a high level of trust and responsibility, his employment gave him the opportunity to intercept the package and he intended to do just that."

"We are saying there was an element of sophistication in this offence."

There were further messages between Smith and the supplier after the package was intercepted, in which the supplier offered to resend the same order for half the price and Smith declined, saying he would "let things settle before I order more".

He never did so, as he was investigated, arrested and ultimately charged with three counts of importation. 

Defence Advocate Sam Steel said his client “had been plagued by feelings of shame about his body” since his early teenage years and that “his addiction was to grafting his physique.”

He said a friend of Smith’s had introduced the defendant to PEDs and he purchased his first 12-week course locally before the island went into lockdown last March. 

Smith then required a post-cycle course, having used steroids, in order to help his body to produce its own testosterone again. 

Pictured: It was Smith's first time before Guernsey's criminal justice system. 

He was unable to do that locally and went online for the drugs instead. However, he got tempted by another cycle. “He became attracted to the cost of the offer of the other, unlawful products - a new cycle - so ordered those as well.” 

Advocate Steel contested some of the aggravating factors raised by Advocate Calderwood. He said that Smith, who first started working at Guernsey Post 16 years ago, clearly did not apply for that job in order to hep facilitate any importation. He had risen up the ranks at the company and was previously of good character.  

Advocate Steel asked for any custodial sentence to be suspended. He argued that Smith that already lost “the job he loved and excelled at”.

Smith expressed his remorse to the Court: “My actions have destroyed my life and brought great shame upon my family.”

The Judge Catherine Fooks and nine Jurats deliberated for over one hour before delivering a verdict. 

She agreed with Advocate Calderwood that there were serious aggravating factors, including that of using a real person as a decoy address. Even more serious than that was Smith's abuse of his position.

"As a Manager at Guernsey Post with inside knowledge, you gave yourself the opportunity to intercept the package if it returned to the table outside of your office," said Judge Fooks. 

Smith's first ever criminal charges had already taken a heavy toll, she acknowledged. He deserved "considerable credit" for his previous good character and his pro-social behaviour, having found another job since losing his long-term employment at Guernsey Post. 

It was concluded that Smith had a "low level of reoffending" given the serious consequences he has already experienced. 

Judge Fooks said: "You have lost your job, financial security you worked so hard to achieve, your home and your [work] friends."

With that in mind, Smith's two-year sentence of imprisonment was suspended for three years. It will only be activated if there is further offending.