Liverpool woman who tried to smuggle £92k from Isle of Man jailed

Stanley was stopped by a routine police patrol as she went to board at Douglas ferry terminal

A woman who was caught trying to smuggle more than £92,000 from the Isle of Man to the UK has been jailed.

Manx Police found the money, which was connected to criminal activity, in Sheila Stanley's car as she went to board a ferry to Heysham on 22 March.

Douglas Courthouse heard the 36-year-old from Everton, Liverpool was due to be paid £1,000 for making the delivery.

Jailing her for 17 months, Deemster Graeme Cook said there "must be an end" to cash being smuggled off the island.

The court was told Starkey was stopped as part of a routine police patrol as she was about to board a boat at the ferry terminal in Douglas.

Search dogs alerted officers to loose panels on the front console of the vehicle and Starkey was subsequently arrested on suspicion of money-laundering.

'Desperate situation'

The car was taken back to police headquarters and searched, with officers finding ten bundles of money, adding up to a total of £92,610.

At interview, Stanley said she had been told to leave the car on the island and later collect and drive it back to the UK, but would not reveal who commissioned her to make the delivery due to fears for her own safety.

She pleaded guilty to attempting to remove criminal property from the island.

In mitigation, her defence advocate said she had been in a "desperate situation", facing significant debt and had been under threat of being evicted from her home.

Sentencing her, Deemster Cook said the smuggling of large amounts of cash, which was often "drugs money sent back to the north west of England", was "becoming more and more frequent on the Isle of Man".

"There must be an end to this, and the only way to end this is to punish people accordingly," he added.