By Paul A. Reid, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
DOREEN WHITTON, the last of the 19 Britons held with nearly 2,000 lb of ganja at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay in November last year, walked free from the Montego Bay Resident Magistrates Court yesterday.
The 46-year-old receptionist from Birmingham, was acquitted of possession, dealing in and talking steps to export 93 lb of ganja that were found packaged in 45 brick looking packages in two suitcases she identified as hers after her Jamaican-born boyfriend, Rennick Gregory accepted responsibility for them.
Whitton was the only one of the 19 to be spared jail time as the 18th member of the group, 20-year-old Kelly Page, was sentenced to nine months and fined over $450,000 after she had pleaded not guilty to having 96 lb in her possession.
The 19 were arrested on November 19 last year when 1,722 lb (782.72 kg) of the illegal drug was found in their luggage.
Gregory will serve a total of five years in prison as he was sentenced to an additional three years in addition to the two and a half he was previously sentenced to for 97 lbs of the weed that was found in his luggage.
Gregory was also fined $490,0000 or six months. He was fined $15,000 or six months for possession, $225,000 or six months for dealing in and $250,000 or six months for six months for taking steps to export the drug.
Gregory, an electrician, told the court that he had planned with some people in England to bring the drugs back after coming home to visit a sick relative who eventually died.
He said he did not tell Miss Whitton as she would never have agreed and might even have torn up his passport to prevent him coming here had she known before hand.
He said he also arranged for the bags to be picked up a day earlier so the ganja could be packed in it.
Whitton had denied any knowledge of the drugs in her two black suitcases telling the court that she "would never do anything so stupid as this as I don't want to risk losing my job."
Miss Whitton who said she was travelling outside of England for the first time said she was surprised when the bags were opened at the airport and she noticed that her clothes were missing and saw the packages there instead.
In freeing her of the charges Senior Resident Magistrate for the parish of St James Her Honour Paulette Williams told Whitton "you were stupid, and turned a blind eye and did not do what you were supposed to have done."
The judge said she was convinced by Gregory's testimony and added that she could not punish Whitton for what turns out to be stupidity and hoped that the time she spent in jail would teach her to be more aware of what was going on around her.
