Jersey Unreported Judgments

Inferior Number Sentencing - drugs - Class A and Class C.

[2024]JRC195

Royal Court

(Samedi)

19 September 2024

Before     :

R: J. MacRae, Deputy Bailiff, and Jurats Christensen and Berry.

The Attorney General

-v-

Timothy Ayres

Sentencing by the Inferior Number of the Royal Court, following guilty pleas to the following charges:

1 count of:	Possession of criminal property, contrary to Article 30(1)(c) of the Proceeds of Crime (Jersey) Law 1999 (Count 1).
1 count of	Supplying a controlled drug to another, contrary to Article 5(b) of the Misuse of Drugs (Jersey) Law 1978 (Count 2).
1 count of	Possessing a controlled drug, contrary to Article 8(1) of the Misuse of Drugs (Jersey) Law 1978 (Count 3)
1 count of	Offer to supply a controlled drug, contrary to Article 5(b) of the Misuse of Drugs (Jersey) Law 1978 (Count 4).

Age:  43.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

The Defendant was the subject of a joint operation carried out by Jersey Customs and Immigration Service and Guernsey Border Force.  On 19 May 2023, a Guernsey resident by the name of Darren John Paul El Mettouri travelled from Guernsey, on a Guernsey registered vessel called 'Vital Spark'.  When the boat moored in St Helier, El Mettouri disembarked and walked into St Helier town centre and met the Defendant in Legends Bar and provided him £15,440 in Guernsey notes which was the proceeds of drug trafficking (Count 1).  

 

El Mettouri was arrested at Albert Pier, on his way back to the harbour.  From within El Mettouri's rucksack a snap seal bag containing 535 milligrams of cocaine was found which had been supplied to him by the Defendant when they met (Count 2).

 

The Defendant was arrested in Legends Bar and was taken to Elizabeth Terminal and told officers he had a small quantity of cocaine in his pocket, which later analysed and confirmed to be 1.72 grams of cocaine (Count 3).  The Defendant's rucksack was also searched and the £15,440 in Guernsey notes was recovered from within a number of carrier bags and the cash had been separated into individual bundles, secured by rubber bands and then wrapped in cling film.

 

An examination of mobile phones showed that the Defendant had offered to supply El Mettouri with one 10ml dose of testosterone for £70 (Count 4).

 

El Mettouri was sentenced by the Royal Court of Guernsey on 12 April 2024 in respect of two counts of supplying cannabis amounting to at least 1.72 kilograms and one of failing to make a cash control declaration when leaving the Bailiwick of Guernsey carrying cash in excess of £10,000, to a total of 4 years and 4 months' imprisonment.

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty plea, delay, cooperation in providing PIN and signed bank authorities, no previous drug convictions.

Previous Convictions:

Previous convictions for motoring and public disorder offences

Conclusions:

Count 1:	Starting point 4 years' imprisonment.  2 years' and 6 months' imprisonment.
Count 2:	Starting point 12 months' imprisonment.  6 months' imprisonment, consecutive.
Count 3:	2 weeks' imprisonment, concurrent.
Count 4:	1 months' imprisonment, concurrent.

Total:  3 years' imprisonment.

Application for forfeiture of £15,440 sought.

Forfeiture and destruction of the drugs sought.

Sentence and Observations of the Court:

Count 1:	2 years' imprisonment.
Count 2:	Starting point 12 months' imprisonment.  6 months' imprisonment, consecutive.
Count 3:	2 weeks' imprisonment, concurrent.
Count 4:	1 months' imprisonment, concurrent.

Total:  2 years' and 6 months' imprisonment.  

Forfeiture of £15,440 ordered.

Forfeiture and destruction of the drugs ordered.

Crown Advocate L. Sette for His Majesty's Attorney General.

Advocate R. S. Tremoceiro for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        Timothy Ayres, you are 43 years old and have no relevant previous convictions.  You appear today in order to be sentenced for offences of money laundering and drugs offences, particularly involving the supply of a small quantity of cocaine.

2.        In May of last year, you and Darren El Mettouri were the subject of a joint operation carried out by the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service and the Guernsey Border Force.  That operation led to Mr El Mettouri being sentenced to 4 years and 4 months' imprisonment by the Guernsey Royal Court in April 2024 for offences including supplying cannabis weighing 1.7 kilograms and failing to make a cash control declaration when leaving Jersey in respect of cash that he ultimately gave to you.

3.        On 19 May 2023, Mr El Mettouri travelled from Jersey to Guernsey on a private boat.  Having moored in St Helier, he walked into town carrying a blue rucksack and met you, clearly as arranged, at a public house in Colomberie.  There an exchange took place, and you were overheard telling a third party that Mr El Mettouri had dropped some cash off for you.  After you left each other's company Mr El Mettouri was arrested on the Albert Pier as he returned to his vessel.  Within his rucksack was a small quantity of cocaine, less than 1 gram, which you had supplied to him and cash totalling approximately £600.  Both were seized. 

4.        When you were arrested in the public house to which we have referred you had in your possession a small quantity of cocaine consisting of 3 wraps weighing 1.27 grams.  A search of your rucksack yielded a large bundle of cash in Guernsey notes separated into individual bundles, secured by rubber bands and wrapped in cling film.  The cash totalled £15,440.  In the same rucksack was a notebook with writing and figures on it in your hand which the Crown has described as a "tick list".

5.        When you were interviewed by Customs officers you claimed that you were owed money by people in Guernsey as a consequence of an accident to a jet ski and something involving a sunken boat, and that Mr El Mettouri had collected some of the money that you were owed in Guernsey and brought it over to you.  That was not true, as you now accept.  You were unable to explain the entries on the tick list save for the money owed to you by Mr El Mettouri.  You are still unable to explain any of those transactions today, involving as they do, some nine or so persons and amounts totalling approximately £87,000, all of which is perhaps rather surprising.

6.        You said that the cocaine you had you purchased the night before in a pub and that you were a regular user of that drug.  You accepted supplying Mr El Mettouri with a wrap of cocaine, referred to at Count 2 of the indictment.  You gave access to your mobile telephone.  That was analysed and revealed that you and Mr El Mettouri appeared to have known each other well and you had been in contact with each other.  We have seen some of those messages and the exchanges in March of last year showed that you knew that Mr El Mettouri was selling drugs in Guernsey, which your counsel accepts on your behalf today.  The exchange between the two of you on 11 May 2023 supports the offence at Count 4.  Mr El Mettouri asked you if you could obtain injection steroids and you agreed to do so.  This is an offence of offering to supply a Class C drug.

7.        The basis of your guilty plea in relation to the cash you received from Mr El Mettouri is that you accept that you were in possession of criminal property, but you were not involved in drug trafficking in the sense of having sold drugs for a profit yourself.  But you accept that you handled money which you knew or suspected to be the proceeds of drug trafficking.  In fact, it is clear that you knew Mr El Mettouri was a drug dealer and you knew these were the proceeds of drug trafficking in Guernsey and you received this money on that basis. 

8.        We note the opinion of the Probation officer expressed at paragraph 8 of his report that you perhaps know more information regarding the money than you are prepared to say, and as a result you are minimising your involvement in this offence.  Certainly you have not volunteered the conversations you had with the person or persons to whom you were to pass this money and their involvement in the chain of drug trafficking and supply of the proceeds of such trafficking.

9.        The total value of the cocaine seized from you and Mr El Mettouri totalled between £300 and £600.  You appeared before the Magistrate's Court on 4 July 2024 and entered guilty pleas to all offences at the first opportunity.  Accordingly, you will receive full credit for those pleas of guilty.

10.     We have had regard to the fact that 16 months have passed since your offending in this case.  The Crown accepts that there has been some delay in this case, approximately six to eight months, for which you are not responsible and for which there ought to be a small reduction in your sentence.  We accept that observation and we make that reduction and also make a reduction in the starting point at Count 1 or the indictment.

11.     We have had regard to the Pre-Sentence Report and the letters written on your behalf.  We accept the Crown's observation that following the case of AG v Grzegorska [2024] JRC 151 the starting point for the offence at Count 2 is 12 months' imprisonment.

12.     The main offence on this indictment is the money laundering offence at Count 1.  Notwithstanding that these were not the proceeds of your own drug trafficking, they were the proceeds of drug trafficking of a third party whom you knew was a drug dealer and you knew that to be the case at the time you received these monies from him.  This is a serious offence, and the custody threshold is undoubtedly met.

13.     We have had regard to the considerations in AG v Goodwin [2016] JRC 165 as outlined by the Crown and subject to submissions by Advocate Tremoceiro (which we accept in that regard), the least sentences we regard as appropriate to impose on you are as follows:

(i)        Count 1:     2 years' imprisonment. 

(ii)       Count 2:     6 months' imprisonment, consecutive. 

(iii)      Count 3:     2 weeks' imprisonment, concurrent.

(iv)     Count 4:     1 month imprisonment, concurrent.

14.     Making a total of 2 years and 6 months' imprisonment.

Authorities

Proceeds of Crime (Jersey) Law 1999.

Misuse of Drugs (Jersey) Law 1978.

AG v Hagin [2020] JRC 176.

AG v Goodwin [2016] JRC 165.

AG v Bhojwani [2010] JRC 116.

AG v Reece [2022] JRC 151.

Rimmer v AG [2001] JLR 373.

AG v Grzegorska [2024] JRC 151.

Magistrate's Court Sentencing Guidelines - Drug Offences.