Drug smuggler's sentence slashed

A drug smuggler from Rochdale has had one and a half years taken off her sentence at the Court of Appeal.

Mother of four Natalie Quinn, 26, was one of four smugglers caught bringing £1.75 million worth of cocaine into Southampton. All four were originally sentenced to 12 years each for the crime, but that has been cut to 10 and a half years by appeal judges.

The gang were caught with the drugs on the P&O cruise ship Arcadia last summer, having been recruited as couriers by top criminals.

Quinn was caught with 4.94kg of cocaine strapped to her body when she was stopped and searched by Revenue and Customs officers when she attempted to leave the ship alongside the other three smugglers.

Lawyers argued that the sentences were 'manifestly excessive' and that the four were of previous good character. Judges decided that the judge at their original trial had taken too high a starting point for their sentences before taking away the standard reduction for pleading guilty to the offences.