Man caught with over €1M worth of cocaine in van has jail time doubled in appeal

A man who was caught with over €1 million in cocaine in a “sophisticated” operation where the drugs were hidden in a modified compartment in his van has had his two-year jail sentence doubled by the Court of Appeal.

Andrew Lawlor (38) was originally jailed for two years after he pleaded guilty to possessing €1.2 million of the drug that was hidden in his van and was uncovered after a Garda surveillance operation in 2020.

At Trim Circuit Court in February, Judge Elva Duffy sentenced Lawlor to four and a half years in prison, with the final two and a half years suspended in mitigation considering his guilty plea, personal circumstances and efforts at rehabilitation for a drug and alcohol addiction.

Lawlor, of The Paddocks Grove, Adamstown, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for sale or supply on July 11, 2020, at the Ashbourne Business Centre on the Ballybin Road in Co Meath.

The court heard the drugs had been brought by truck from the UK through Northern Ireland and then to Ashbourne where they were transferred to the defendant’s van.

Gardaí who had mounted a surveillance operation moved in after the handover and arrested both drivers. The truck driver was later jailed for 18 months.

The court heard Lawlor had developed a cocaine addiction after he began experimenting with drugs when he was a teenager and had been under financial strain at the time because of the Covid lockdown. The court heard he is now drug free and training to qualify as a drug counsellor.

At the Court of Appeal on Monday, Carl Hanahoe BL, for the State, successfully appealed the sentence on grounds of undue leniency.

Mr Hanahoe submitted that the headline sentence of six and a half years set by the trial judge was too low, considering the value of the drugs, which weighed 17kg, and the “sophistication of their concealment”.

The court was told that the drugs were found in a compartment in a hydraulic press bolted to the floor of the Volkswagen Caddy.

“The value of the drugs is one of the core elements of where on the spectrum the offence lies and in nominating the headline,” said Mr Hanahoe.

Mr Hanahoe suggested a 10-year headline sentence as an appropriate one in line with the “presumptive mandatory minimum sentence” for similar drug offences.

Mr Hanahoe said that Lawlor had also benefited from an “excessive” reduction in mitigation and described the headline sentence nominated as a starting point as being “out of kilter and insufficient”.

Roderick O’Hanlon SC, for Lawlor, said the value of the drugs was “obviously of considerable importance but it is not determinative in of itself” when it came to applying the presumptive mandatory minimum sentence.

Mr O’Hanlon said his client had entered an early guilty plea. He added that, after his arrest and search, Lawlor had upon request returned voluntarily to the Garda Station, where he wrote out a statement admitting he had been in possession of the drugs later found in the van.

Appeal Court judge Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said there was a “sophisticated concealment” involved in the operation and that a “level of trust” had to have been put in Lawlor by others.

Mr Justice John Edwards noted that when calculating a headline sentence, the sentencing judge had failed to take into account the potential harm to society, not just any actual harm.

Mr O’Hanlon said the trial judge recognised the value of the drugs and the level of offending committed “on more than one occasion” but that there was still a “discretionary” element to sentencing for the trial judge.

Mr O’Hanlon said his client had previous convictions for road traffic offences but that they were “not relevant” to the drugs offence.

Because of Covid restrictions in place at the time, gardaí released Lawlor for a time but when they discovered the drugs in the van, he agreed to return to the station and made out a written statement, said Mr O’Hanlon.

Mr O’Hanlon said that, in his statement, Lawlor said that he was “shocked” when the value of the drugs was told to him.

“I accept responsibility for having the drugs in my van but I did not know the type. I was shocked. I was doing this for €1K and some cocaine – I relapsed. I hope to get back to treatment. I am genuinely sorry. I will regret it for the rest of my life. I am in fear for my life and for my family,” Mr O’Hanlon said his client told gardaí.

Mr O’Hanlon said the father-of-two was in Loughan House open prison, was released one day a week for treatment and that on weekends he was allowed to visit his parents.

“The reports reflect a prisoner who is doing extremely well,” said counsel.

Mr O’Hanlon agreed with Ms Justice Kennedy he was submitting that while the sentence “may seem lenient, it is not too lenient”.

In delivering the Court of Appeal’s judgement, Ms Justice Kennedy noted Lawlor’s personal difficulties, his efforts to overcome them and that he was a father of two with an offer of work upon his release.

Ms Justice Kennedy said the operation would have taken “time and planning” regarding the concealment of drugs that were “a potential harm to society”.

“The quantity and value are critical; not determinative but critical,” said the judge.

In quashing the original sentence, Ms Justice Kennedy said the headline sentence of six and a half years had been unduly lenient and that the court would re-sentence Lawlor.

Ms Justice Kennedy identified 10 years as a headline sentence before reducing it to seven and a half years in mitigation.

Ms Justice Kennedy then suspended the final three and a half years of the sentence to encourage Lawlor’s rehabilitation.

In re-sentencing Lawlor to four years in jail, Ms Kennedy said drugs were a “scourge in our society and there is such a vast quantity of drugs on our streets it cannot be ignored”.

At his previous sentence hearing, Judge Elva Duffy had described the offence as “significant” and the defendant’s method of concealing the drugs as “sophisticated”, but took into account his drug free status before imposing a sentence of four and a half years with the final two and a half years suspended.

The court heard Lawlor had developed a cocaine addiction after he began experimenting with drugs when he was a teenager and had been under financial strain at the time because of the Covid lockdown. The court heard he is now drug free and training to qualify as a drug counsellor.

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