Cannabis Worth £47K In Family Hols Suitcases

An Edmonton mother-of-two, who smuggled £47,000 worth of cannabis through Gatwick Airport after a Caribbean holiday, has been told she will be going to prison.

Judian Lindsay-Smith, 34, of St. Joseph's Road posed as an innocent tourist returning from Jamaica with her children, aged 14 and 8, but was carrying 34lbs of the drug.

She denied, but was convicted at Croydon Crown Court (pictured) of importing cannabis at the airport on February 20 and will be sentenced on October 19.

“I want you to be in no doubt whatsoever that the sentence will be one of imprisonment,” Judge Shani Barnes told Lindsay-Smith today, bailing her for a pre-sentence report.

The court heard UK Border Agency staff were monitoring baggage as it was unloaded from the kingston flight.

A black suitcase bearing the defendant's address was checked and contained 17lbs of herbal cannabis wrapped in foil.

A brown suitcase, which also had the same address, was searched and another 17lbs of the drug was inside.

Officers observed as Lindsay-Smith's teenage son collected the suitcases and the family tried to depart via the 'nothing to declare' channel.

They were stopped and the defendant claimed she had only visited Jamaica to see her elderly grandmother, who had suffered a stroke eighteen months earlier.

She had spent eight days abroad and denied knowing there was cannabis in both her suitcases, later denying they were her suitcases at all.

The jury were also told each bag weighed 17lbs less on departure than when Lindsay-Smith returned.