Woman jailed over what officers found in her bag as she tried to board flight

A woman was stopped at a major city airport after Customs officers made a key discovery in her luggage while she tried to board a return flight home.

Danielle Shields was stopped by customs officers after flying to the island of Jersey on February 7 after she was found with a bag of cash and up to £800 in JD Sports vouchers. Shields, 43, had told officers she was staying at the island's plush four-star Royal Yacht hotel after arriving with £20 and her son's bank card, which she claimed she had permission to use, before travelling outbound to Liverpool, and was allowed to continue her journey. But she was stopped again the following day with a massive haul of cash.

The reports that, at the time, she was carrying £2,336 in cash, £360 of new clothes, and JD Sports gift vouchers valued at around £800. Also on her at the time were a receipt from Jersey Post for an outbound package, which authorities later discovered was an empty Tag Heuer box and receipt for £2,100.

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Shields, who was found wearing a new Tag Heuer watch, also admitted concealing a further £1,360, and later to attempting to export the cash she suspected may have been proceeds from the sale of drugs.

Investigators discovered she had travelled to the island on more than a dozen occasions since December 2023, and she later admitted to having exported cash on previous occasions.

She told Jersey's Royal Court earlier this month that she was paid to retrieve money from unnamed individuals to take to the North West.

Crown advocate Lauren Hallam told it was "overwhelmingly likely" the money she was exporting had come "from the sale of drugs", as moving money "is a key part of the illegal drugs trade".

Shields' defending solicitor James Bell reportedly told the court she was "put under pressure" to take part in the activity "that forms the basis of these charges" adding she had become "caught up in something which she does not intend to repeat". Jersey Evening Post reports that he said his client would "not come back to this court’s attention or the attention of any other court".

She was jailed for 21 months after lieutenant-bailiff Anthony Olsen said Shields was deemed a high risk of reoffending.

Mr Bell had previously argued that she should be granted a community service order and probation order after spending 88 days in custody following her initial arrest.

He told the court: "These are very serious offences. You knew or strongly suspected that you were dealing with the proceeds of the sale of illegal drugs."