A Scottish woman caught smuggling more than 30 kilos of cannabis from Thailand sobbed in court as a judge spared her jail despite admitting he might be making "the wrong decision". Kiala Wyles, 22, from Stirling, was promised £10,000 and a free holiday to Thailand in exchange for transporting the drugs back to the UK.
Border Force officials intercepted Wyles at Manchester Airport on July 24 after she returned from a three-week holiday in Thailand via Dubai. She was carrying 30.28 kilos of cannabis with a wholesale value of £79,000, packed in 26 vacuum-sealed packages stuffed inside two suitcases.
The care home worker initially denied knowing about the drugs but later admitted during police interviews that she had been contacted on social media with the lucrative offer. Her flights were paid for and she enjoyed a 20-day holiday before attempting to smuggle the drugs back into Britain.
Judge's moral dilemma
At Manchester Crown Court on Friday, Mr Recorder Jeremy Lasker acknowledged the difficulty of his decision as Wyles stood sobbing in the dock. The judge said: "This is one of those rare cases where I'm actually going to give you a chance because I think rehabilitation is a good bet in your case."
He continued with remarkable candour: "It may be that I'm making the wrong decision. It maybe that I'm giving the green light to other couriers to take the risk because they think if they get caught they may get away with it." The judge said he was balancing rehabilitation prospects against the risk of damaging her mental health with further imprisonment.
Defence counsel Olivia Gatfield described Wyles as having played a "limited function under direction" and highlighted her troubled background. The defendant had been thrown out of her property, was under financial pressure, and suffered from anxiety, depression and personality disorder, with a father who had been to prison.
Suspended sentence
Wyles accepted she had shown "genuine remorse" and had already spent a month in custody. Despite having previous convictions, she had no prior drug offences, which the judge considered significant in his decision.
The emotional defendant responded: "Thank you your honour" as her sister watched crying from the public gallery. Wyles received a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years after admitting importing class B drugs, along with a 12-month community payback scheme to be completed in Scotland.
Sources used: "Liverpool Echo", "Edinburgh Live", "Manchester Evening News" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
