A cocaine smuggler, caught with nearly £1m worth of the drug hidden inside two suitcases as he returned with his family from his Caribbean wedding anniversary trip, was jailed for six years yesterday.
Winston Williamson, 52, of Milership House, Shropshire Way, West Bromwich, West Midlands, claims violent loan sharks he owed money to pressured him into the illicit importation.
He was arrested and charged along with his wife Mernel McNaughton, 46, of Wallows Lane, Bescot, Walsall and his niece Nadine Burris, 35, of Sadler House, Newton Drive, Birmingham.
All three, accompanied by three young children, were stopped at Gatwick Airport on March 3 after a covert examination of one of their bags.
Williamson (pictured) pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court to importing cocaine and the same charge was dropped against the two women after he insisted they knew nothing about the smuggling operation.
“The mischief and misery that could have been caused by that amount of cocaine in incalculable,” the Recorder of Croydon Judge Warwick McKinnon told Williamson.
“This is a very large amount and you played a significant role.
“You were in this with your eyes open. You knew what you were getting into and did it for the money.”
Eight kilos of cocaine with a purity of 62-81% was found hidden in the bottom of two sports bags – one carried by Williamson and the other left uncollected.
Prosecutor Mr. Hamish Reid told the court the parties’ baggage was identified at the airport’s north terminal.
“One of the bags, in the name of McNaughton, was of interest and these three defendants and the three children with them were intercepted.
“When questioned Williamson said one of the bags was his and the other, which had been left, was Burris’s.
“Williamson’s bag was inspected and the base felt thick and was bulging,” explained Mr. Reid. “The bag was x-rayed, revealing packages in the base that contained white powder.”
A second bag, identified with Burris’s name tag, was also examined.
“It felt heavier than expected and the x-ray revealed something in the base and white powder was found that tested positive for cocaine.
“Williamson said he was experiencing financial difficulties and was under pressure to debtors to carry drugs back.
‘He said he was given two bags to carry back and gave one of them to Burris.
“He said his wife and cousin had no knowledge as to what was being carried in the suitcases.”
The prosecutor submitted the presence of the two women and three children were there to provide cover for the smuggling operation.
“He does not accept he used his wife and his niece as a decoy,” said Williamson’s lawyer Mr. Steve Akinsanya. “He had a change of mind having brought the drugs from Jamaica and left one of the cases behind.
“He had borrowed a sum of money that doubled in four weeks and he and his family were threatened. He agreed to go to Jamaica and bring back the drugs.”
The trip doubled as an anniversary celebration with his wife and an opportunity for Burris, who is engaged, to explore the possibility of getting married there, the court was told.
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