Man who sent £31k of drugs in post has sentence cut

Paul Rowan had been sentenced to 10 years and six months in January

A man jailed for posting £31,000 worth of cocaine and cannabis to the Isle of Man has had his sentence cut by two years and six months.

Paul Rowan, of Garston in Liverpool, was jailed for 10 years and six months in January after his fingerprints were found on two parcels intercepted at the postal sorting office in Braddan in 2020.

Judge of Appeal Jeremy Cross KC and Acting Deemster Alan Gough ruled the sentence was “manifestly excessive”.

The 34-year-old’s sentence was reduced to eight years as a result.

Rowan, of Darwall Road in Garston, had pleaded guilty to two counts of importing cocaine and one of importing cannabis to the island after being arrested in the UK.

He was linked to the drugs through his fingerprints on the packaging and a phone number used to enquire about the parcels.

The first package, intercepted on 13 March 2020, contained cocaine with a street value of £5,460 and cannabis worth £19,698, while the second was found to have £6,350 of cocaine hidden inside an adapted book in July the same year.

In its judgment, the appeal court said the aggravating factor of a previous conviction was counter-balanced by his references and work record, posting the package was not a group activity, the basis of plea indicated there was a drug debt involved and using the hollowed out book had not been sophisticated.

“Sentencers should look at the arithmetic, stand back, apply another coat of thought to the sentence and then decide whether the total sentence reflects the criminality,” it added.

“In our view the sentence was manifestly excessive and we reduce the overall sentence.”