[2010] EWCA Crim 1236

In very exceptional cases the personal circumstances of a courier who had smuggled Class A drugs into the United Kingdom could lead the court to step outside the sentencing guidelines and act in a merciful way. Such cases were, however, exceptional. It was commonplace for a courier to be a foreign national and the mother of young children who were living abroad and, without more, such circumstances would not lead the court to act outside the guidelines.

CA (Crim Div) (Aikens LJ, Slade J, Judge Wadsworth QC)

18/05/2010