Woman caught with £47k criminal cash hidden in car

31-year-old from Liverpool receives suspended sentence

Report by BBC Isle of Man: 

A woman caught outside the Isle of Man Sea Terminal with £47,000 of criminal cash hidden in her car has been sentenced.

Amanda Done had been trying to leave the Island when customs officers found the money in her Fiat Punto on 25 October.

Douglas Courthouse heard the 31-year-old from Liverpool had been seen acting suspiciously and failed to prove her identity when questioned.

Sentencing her to nine months in jail, suspended for two years, Deemster Graeme Cook said the money was "no doubt from the unlawful supply of drugs".

The court heard an initial search by customs officers found some of the money in a sports bag in the boot, with more discovered in a 'man bag' under one of the seats.

An x-ray of the vehicle revealed further cash hidden behind a secret panel behind the rear passenger seat.

She was arrested and later pleaded guilty to attempting to remove criminal property from the Island.

Deemster Cook said the money was “no doubt from the unlawful supply of drugs on this Island, going back across to those who supplied it”.

The deemster said that unless the courts took "a hard line” such cross-border criminal activity would continue including “the use of vulnerable women as mules”.

He told Done he had made the “exceptional decision” to suspend the sentence over such a large amount of money.

However he said the sentence was “in part because my hands are tied” as the summary courts had previously accepted jurisdiction for the case which had limited the maximum term he could hand down.

The case had been committed to the Court of General Gaol for a confiscation order to be considered.