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'Can't wait to enjoy our summer': Drug smuggling best friends celebrate after avoiding jail time
3 April 2025, 11:32 | Updated: 3 April 2025, 13:04
Two friends who were caught smuggling drugs to the UK have celebrated on social media after dodging jail.
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Sophie Bannister and Levi-April Whalley, both from Blackburn, were stopped with more than 35kg of cannabis in their suitcases at Birmingham Airport.
Officers found 34 heat-sealed packages containing 16.5kg of cannabis in Bannister's case and a further 39 packages containing 19kg of cannabis in Whalley's bag.
In December 2023, the pair told Border Force officials they had been on a three-day "shopping trip" to New York.
On Wednesday, the drug smuggling duo wept in Preston Crown Court as they were handed suspended sentences.
The pair said "yesterday proved how really strong we are" in a number of celebratory posts on social media.
In one post, Sophie spoke of the "challenging 15 months of our lives" and admitted to learning from the "biggest mistakes we've ever made".
The drugs in Bannister's case had an estimated street value of £40,500 and Whalley's were estimated at £121,500.
Whalley, a nurse who has now been suspended from practice, told officials she believed the packages instead contained watches.
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Another video posted to Instagram expressed shock at media interest in their case.
It says: "Who would have thought we'd wake up famous on your birthday, we've made our mistakes now time to make up for the hell we've been through".
In another post, Sophie wished April-Levi a happy birthday saying: "Happy to my soul mate my sister my everything: There is really is no friendship quite like ours.
"Stuck together through the good the bad and the WILD You will never know how much you truly mean to me.
"Love you forever sister now let's enjoy our lives together."
Another post said: "Can't wait to enjoy our summer and our forever".
'Consequences'
Judge Richard Archer, sentencing, said: "You were both aware that having travelled from New York to Birmingham via Paris that you had in your respective suitcases a significant quantity of heat-sealed bags, containing 35.5kg of cannabis.
"This was not your cannabis but cannabis you were carrying on behalf of another, but you were expecting significant financial advantage for doing what you did.
"You discussed it in relation to this particular trip to New York, with a clear view of the money you were going to make from behaving this way.
"You perhaps had little regard to the seriousness or consequences of your offending.
"It must have been in the back of your mind that you would be caught but you probably thought very little about sitting in the dock this afternoon.
"I very much hope that you don't involve yourselves in this behaviour again."
Bannister, now of Cotton Lane, Manchester, was sentenced to 20 months suspended for 18 months, with 30 days rehabilitation activities and 200 hours of unpaid work.
Whalley, of Livesey Branch Road, Blackburn, was handed a 16-month sentence suspended for 18 months, with 10 days rehabilitation and 80 hours of unpaid work.
