Gregory & Raffray v A.G.
| Jurisdiction | Jersey |
| Court | Court of Appeal |
| Judge | Vaughan JA |
| Judgment Date | 06 July 2005 |
| Neutral Citation | [2005] JCA 89 |
| Date | 06 July 2005 |
[2005] JCA 89
COURT OF APPEAL
R. C. Southwell, Esq., Q.C President; D. A. J. Vaughan, Esq., C.B.E., Q.C.; and Lord Hodge
Advocate D. Steenson for E.A. Gregory
Advocate R. Juste for D.C. Raffray
C.M.M. Yates, Esq., Crown Advocate
Mooney and Sumner v A.G. [2005] JCA 023.
Rimmer Lusk & Bade v A.G. [2001] JLR 373.
Whitehouse v A.G. [2002] JCA 134.
Application for leave to appeal against sentence on 14 th April, 2005, by the Superior Number of the Royal Court on guilty plea to:
1 Count of: Being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of a controlled drug, contrary to Article 61(2)(b) of the Customs and Excise (Jersey) 1999.
Application for leave to appeal against sentence on 14 th April, 2005, by the Superior Number of the Royal Court on guilty plea to:
1 Count of: Possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply contrary to Article 6 (2) of the Misuse of Drugs (Jersey) Law 1978.
This is the judgment of the Court on an appeal on behalf of Elaine Gregory and an application for leave to appeal on behalf of Duncan Raffray which arise out of the importation of a very significant quantity of heroin into Jersey, which took place on 17 August 2004. As a result of that importation by her husband Martin Gregory, and her subsequent involvement, Elaine Gregory was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for the offence of being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of heroin and Martin Gregory to a term of six years for the same offence, both following pleas of guilty. Martin Gregory does not make an application for leave to appeal against his sentence.
Duncan Raffray, to whom the heroin was passed, having pleaded not guilty, was sentenced, following his conviction, to a term of ten years for the offence of being in possession of heroin with intent to supply.
The quantity of heroin which was imported was 235.89 grams, almost all of which was passed on to Duncan Raffray. For a quantity of heroin ranging from 100 to 250 grams, the appropriate Rimmer starting point is ten to thirteen years. The Crown Advocate sought for a starting point of twelve years for all three defendants, but they were sentenced by the Royal Court on the basis that the appropriate starting point was eleven years for Martin Gregory and Duncan Raffray and ten years for Elaine Gregory to reflect her lesser involvement. The street value of the heroin imported was between £75,000 and £100,000 with a wholesale value of between £35,000 and £47,000.
In essence with regard to starting points, it is Elaine Gregory's contention that the starting point for her should have been far less than that for her husband to reflect her lesser involvement in the whole exercise. Duncan Raffray contends that there was no basis for taking the same starting point for him as was taken in the case of Martin Gregory. With regard to mitigation both contend that the amount allowed for mitigation should be greater, but of course in the case of Duncan Raffray there is no question of any discount being allowed for a plea of guilty. Accordingly in order to consider those contentions it is necessary to consider in detail the circumstances leading up to the original importation of the heroin into the Island by Elaine and Martin Gregory and its subsequent passing to Duncan Raffray.
On 17 August 2004 Martin and Elaine Gregory, both aged approximately 45, arrived as passengers in Jersey and were seen disembarking from the ferry which had arrived from Poole. They were taken by coach to the hotel where they had been booked in for a stay of seven nights. Martin Gregory subsequently gave a full statement of the events leading up to their arrival in Jersey, although he did not name his supplier. Apparently a man arrived at the Gregory's home in Liverpool and handed over drugs that were contained in 27 packages. Martin Gregory says he thought they were amphetamines (although of course this is irrelevant for the purpose of sentence as made clear in Rimmer). He was prepared to take these drugs to Jersey in order to clear a debt of £2,000 arising from his use of cocaine, and by the promise of free travel and a holiday in Jersey for him and his wife. He and Elaine Gregory were taken to Lime Street Station in Liverpool from where they travelled by train to Poole. At some stage he ingested the packages of drugs and they were imported into Jersey internally. Over the next two days after importation they were for the most part expelled with the use of laxatives. He became unwell. Elaine Gregory at that stage became aware of what was happening. Some of the drugs were not expelled until much later when Martin Gregory was under police custody; two of the packages having split were found to be empty.
Over the next two days Elaine Gregory made frequent telephone calls to contacts in the UK, as...
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