First photos of Dudley pair who tried to smuggle £1.75m of cocaine into the UK

Michael Williams, 37, and 36-year-old Jessica Waldron - both of Holly Hall, Dudley - were jailed on Monday for six years and eight months each after admitting being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of Class A drugs.

Isleworth Crown Court heard how they flew into Heathrow Airport from Bogota, Colombia, on December 14, 2019, thinking they had 22kgs of drugs hidden in holdalls ready to hand over near Terminal 2.

However, the pair were unaware that Colombian authorities had intercepted the drugs, replaced them with wooden blocks before the plane took off and alerted the UK’s National Crime Agency.

After being seen entering toilets at the airport with the bags and leaving shortly afterwards without them, Williams and Waldron were arrested.

Isleworth Crown Court heard how the planned rendezvous had been partly organised through EncroChat, an encrypted messaging platform. There, they were told to wear specific clothing and pose as a couple by holding hands on arrival for identification purposes.

Waldron and Williams both admitted being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of a class A drug two days after their arrest.

Phones belonging to Waldron were seized after she was detained, with one containing a message from November 9 reading: “Hey Jess, it’s D, got something real nice for you and Mike.”

She replied: “Ok.”

Prosecutor John Ojakovoh said they had been recruited and played their part in trying to smuggle drugs with a street value of £1.75m into the country.

Detailing the attempted handover, the prosecutor said: “There was a rendezvous. They followed (a third person) to the toilet area, having deviated from what had been the natural route for arrivals, and then they were seen going in with holdalls containing the blocks.

“They came out without the holdalls.”

The prosecutor said Waldron acted as the “lead” courier, liaising with the Colombian side of the operation and others in the chain of command, although Tom Blackburn, representing both defendants, said they had a smaller role in the wider enterprise and were “following orders” from more senior players.

“It is my submission that the defendants – both of them – were acting under the direction of others, who would only have told them as much as they needed to know to carry out their specific role, because to give them any further information would have effectively been redundant,” he told the court.

Mr Blackburn said Waldron and Williams were Class A drug users at the time and motivated in part by a desire to fund their addictions but have since kicked their habits and made efforts to reform themselves while in prison.

After admitting their guilt two days after being arrested, the pair were sentenced on Monday, nearly three years after the day of their flight and arrest.

Waldron was supported in court by four family members, including her mother and brother, as she sat in the dock alongside Williams.

Passing sentence, Recorder Christopher Stone said he had taken into account the “significant quantity of drugs” concerned but said both defendants appear to have “changed for the better” while behind bars.

“You must have had some awareness and understanding of the scale of the operation you were involved in,” he told them. “You did this with the expectation of financial advantage.”

NCA Heathrow operations manager Darren Barr said: “Organised crime groups need couriers like Waldron and Williams for their business model to function.

“Their role is crucial in a chain that starts with the cartels that produce drugs in South America and ends with violent street gangs on UK towns and cities.

“I hope the sentences handed out today make those who would consider getting involved in such an enterprise to think again. It simply isn’t worth it.”