A WOMAN from South Norwood who was part of a gang that tried to import £400,000 worth of cocaine has been jailed.
Sharon Dixon, 52, of Whitehorse Lane, was sentenced on Friday (July 18) to nine years behind bars after being found guilty of conspiracy to import class A controlled drugs at Kingston Crown Court on March 26.
She was the only one of seven defendants to deny the offence throughout her trial.
Dixon had acted as a drugs mule during the complex operation and had travelled to Jamaica and Portugal as part of the operation.
Dixon had previously been sentenced to ten years in 1996 for importing 3kgs of cocaine in her luggage via Stansted Airport.
As well as Dixon, three of the gang members were from Liverpool, one from Penge, one from Lewisham and another from Lambeth.
They were caught after a joint investigation by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), the National Crime Agency at Gatwick and Titan and the Northwest Regional Organised Crime Unit.
Dixon was bought flights by Glenroy Williams, 51, from London Gatwick to Montego Bay in Jamaica with a transfer flight specifically booked for Porto in Portugal so Gatwick baggage handler Derek Giles, 56, had access to her luggage.
She left London on September 11 last year and returned from Jamaica on September 19.
Dixon did not leave the airport as she had been booked on the transfer flight to Porto. As a result her baggage was "in transfer" and was collected by the transfer baggage handlers.
Giles was seen to travel from the North terminal to the South terminal to collect the transfer luggage from Dixon's inbound flight from Jamaica.
She then boarded the flight to Porto with her baggage weighing 5kg less than it did when she left Jamaica.
Dixon stayed just one night in Portugal and she only travelled there to ensure her baggage was "in transfer".
She flew back on September 20 and was arrested as she left Gatwick because police had raided Giles' home the previous day and found four sealed tins labelled 'Jamaican Pride Callaloo' with an estimated £400,000 worth of cocaine in.
Williams, of Lambeth, was jailed for 11 years for conspiracy to import class A controlled drugs and possession of a stun gun.
The rest of the gang all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import class A controlled drugs apart from Williams, who also pleaded guilty to possession of a stun gun.
Giles, of Penge, was sentenced to seven years.
Craig Accra, of Liverpool, 33, was sentenced to six years. Lee Edward Kent, 36, of Liverpool was sentenced to five years and eight months. Lawrence French, 57, of Lewisham, was sentenced to four years and four months and Eileen Adams, 55, of Liverpool was given eight months.
