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A Peel man who tried to smuggle cocaine to the Isle of Man so he could pay off his own drug debt has been jailed for five and a half years.

 

29-year-old Matthew Prendergast was sentenced at Douglas Courthouse yesterday where he was told he was 'exactly the sort of person that drug dealers exploit'. 

 

He was arrested at Ronaldsway Airport on April 9th after disembarking a flight from Liverpool - he was taken to Noble's Hospital where an X-ray showed he had three packages concealed internally. 

 

They contained just over 83 grams of cocaine which had a street value of between £4,164 and £5,829 - he later pleaded guilty to production of the Class A substance and possession of it with intent to supply. 

 

In his basis of plea Prendergast admitted he had travelled to the UK to pick up the drugs "out of desperation" because he had a £1,000 drug debt caused by his own heroin addiction. 

 

He said he'd "only acted as a donkey" for the £500 payment he was being offered - his advocate told the court Prendergast was "somewhat of a small cog in the chain but still a significant cog". 

 

Jailing Prendergast Deemster Mongtomerie told him "you're the mule who takes the risk and regrettably for you, in this case, take all of the consequences". 

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