Two heroin smugglers have been jailed for more than four years each.

Anne Marie Westwood, and James Shaun Lee Goulding, tried to bring thousands of pounds worth of the drug in on the ferry from Liverpool in June.

Westwood, aged 43, of Hough Lane, Leyland, was found to be concealing 64 grams of heroin internally, valued at between £8,000 and £16,000, when she arrived in the island at 10pm on June 16.

She was jailed for four years and two months while Goulding, aged 22, of Perth Avenue, St Helens, who had been sent by a Liverpool drug gang to accompany her, was sentenced to four years and 10 months in custody.

Both were also banned from the island for five years, an order that will come into force after their release from prison.

Deemster Alastair Montgomerie told the pair: ’The penalties for class ’A’ drugs here in the Isle of Man are severe. Class ’A’ drugs bring misery and suffering to users, to the families of users, and to whole communities and that is what would have happened if you had been successful in bringing this heroin into the island.’

Both Westwood and Goulding pleaded guilty to production of heroin to the island while Westwood also admitted possession of the drug with intent to supply.

Prosecutor Rachael Braidwood told the court how, when Westwood arrived on the boat she was stopped by police.

Ferry

She said she was here to meet a man called George, but had booked the ferry that day and had no return journey booked. She was carrying £33 in cash but had no ID and hardly any personal effects.

Goulding was stopped as he got off the boat separately from Westwood.

He also had no ID and was only carrying £36 in cash. He told police he was here to visit a friend in prison and was going to book accommodation after her arrived.

Westwood was taken to Noble’s Hospital where she produced two packages from inside her, one weighing 27.2 grams and one at 37.1 grams.

Mobile phone messages between Westwood and Goulding implicated them in the supply and distribution of drugs.

Westwood told police she was a heroin user and was in debt to a drug dealer called George. She said she was pressed to bring the drugs to the island to pay off her debt but had believed she would only be carrying one ounce.

Westwood said she had been picked up by George in a car and had inserted the drugs inside her.

She claimed that George said that they were for his own personal use and that he was moving the Isle of Man.

Westwood said that George had also travelled on the boat but had moved away from her and told her to delete her phone messages.

She said that the trip was paid for by him and she also received £100 in cash. She said she was to give the drugs to a man she was to meet in a hotel room.

The court heard that Westwood received a suspended sentence in 2017 in Shrewsbury for being involved in smuggling drugs into a prison there. Goulding told police he owed money though he was not a drug user and he had been threatened by a man telling him to accompany Westwood on the ferry.

Goulding was jailed in 2016 for two years and four months for possession of crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply in Chester.

User

Defending Westwood, advocate Paul Rodgers said that his client was a heroin user who was very low down in the chain and was also receiving a very low reward.

Mr Rodgers cited a psychiatric report which had diagnosed Westwood with a mental and behavioural disorder due to the use of opioids.

Ian Kermode represented Goulding and said that his client was unemployed at the time and in financial difficulties.

Mr Kermode said that Goulding had not known the quantity of the drugs but he did know that it was heroin.

Deemster Montgomerie told the duo: ’You now have the opportunity whilst in prison to turn your lives around. If you have any addictions now is the time to get free of drugs.’