'Prolific' main runner for drug kingpin jailed

A "prolific" Manx drug runner involved in importing more than £100,000 of cocaine and dropping packages outside Isle of Man Prison has been jailed for more than 15 years.

Hayley Williams' DNA was found in a package being smuggled into prison by an inmate as he returned from working in the garden. It contained 26g of MDMA, 3g of cocaine, 14g of ketamine and two SIM cards, and had been left at the entrance.

Douglas Courthouse heard she was drug kingpin Jamie Smith's "main runner" and delivered drugs in her food delivery vehicle. She admitted offences including being concerned in importing cocaine.

Deemster Graeme Cook said the island was "sick and tired of the amount of drugs getting in".

He said: "A message needs to be sent out that it is not tolerated."

The court heard that in the early hours of 8 May, Williams had bought two SIM cards at the EVF petrol station on Peel Road, which was captured on CCTV footage, before phone data showed she drove to Jurby and returned to her home address.

Forensic investigations found Williams' DNA was on the knot of one of the bags containing drugs found at the prison, which the prosecution said showed she had packaged the substances.

She claimed she had dropped the package to a third party in the vicinity of the prison, and did not place it at Jurby prison herself. That explanation was not accepted by the prosecution.

Later the same month Williams, of Springfield Road in Douglas, was found to be the driver of a silver Honda that picked up two men who had come off the ferry from Liverpool in the central area of Douglas Promenade, the court heard.

She drove a short distance to the Palace Hotel car park and the two men got out of the vehicle.

Covert officers who had followed her found two bags of cocaine with a street value of between £55,920 and £111,840 and she was subsequently arrested.

Douglas Courthouse also heard a covert recording device placed in the hotel room of drug kingpin Jamie Smith between 20 October and 19 November 2023 revealed she was his "main runner" and a "trusted lieutenant".

Williams, who was a food delivery driver, would use the vehicle to deliver drugs.

In the covert recordings, Smith would refer to her as "Hayley Escobar", in reference to the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

She was found to be involved in drug-drop deliveries and collecting money on behalf of Smith, as well as storing and sub-dividing drugs at her home address and a secret location, the court heard.

Her defence advocate argued her drug dealing was fuelled by her own addiction.

Williams pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply of cocaine, being concerned in importing cocaine, and being concerned in the supply of cocaine and cannabis.

She also pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine, ketamine and MDMA, and leaving prohibited articles in a place intended to come into the possession of a detainee of the Isle of Man Prison.

The deemster said: "You supplied two Class A and one Class B drug to the prison, and they are like liquid gold in the prison and create further danger."

Following her sentencing, Det Insp Jamie Tomlinson said she "revelled in the position she had been given by Smith and she was prolific in the physical supply of controlled drugs for the period up to her arrest".

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