April Hodges denies one count of conspiring with others to import a controlled drug.
The court heard yesterday that she travelled to Jersey on two occasions in 2017 in the company of boyfriend Neil Heskin, who has since admitted his role in the drugs conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing.
The police were monitoring the activities of the ‘highly professional’ criminal gang, which included Miss Hodges boyfriend, another Liverpool man John O’Connor and local players Alan Smitton, David Arrowsmith and Norman Templeton-Brown, over the course of their stay, the court heard.
Outlining the prosecution case yesterday, Crown Advocate Simon Thomas said the conspiracy was not in doubt as all five men had since admitted their roles in the drugs plot.
‘You can be sure there was a conspiracy at the relevant time, the issue is whether April Hodges was involved,’ he said.
The prosecution case is that Miss Hodges handled most of the travel arrangements for the couple and O’Connor.
The Crown contends that she also moved some of the drugs money into her Barclays account in the UK by making cash deposits at a St Helier branch and was present at various meetings of Heskin and his co-conspirators at pubs in the Island.
Crown Advocate Thomas said her presence provided a ‘cover’ for Heskin, as they could present as a holidaying couple.
Heskin and other gang members from both Liverpool and Jersey had been involved in a similar drugs scheme uncovered by the police in 2005, Crown Advocate Thomas added.
‘April Hodges was not a key player but we do say she had a role to play and she did so in the knowledge of what the others were up to,’ he said.
Miss Hodges and Heskin left the Island on 17 October 2017 but returned the following month, following O’Connor who had travelled on a booking made by Miss Hodges.
As the States police’s ‘Operation Raven’ moved in on the gang, Miss Hodges and Heskin were arrested on 10 November 2017, but were released pending further investigation and left the Island the following day.
Miss Hodges was later arrested in Liverpool and returned to Jersey last June to face charges. Heskin eluded the police and remained ‘at large’ until last month, when he was returned to Jersey and pleaded guilty in the Royal Court to conspiracy to import cannabis.
The trial before Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith and Jurats Collette Crill and Pamela Pitman continues.
