Islander who took 1.6 g of cannabis into La Moye prison is spared jail
Jade Hopkins, 35, was bound over to be of good behaviour for 12 months for twice taking cannabis into La Moye prison on behalf of a former partner a court found had intimidated her. The magistrate, David Le Cornu, said the offences passed the custody threshold but that her case was exceptional.
🇯🇪 Magistrate's Court, St Helier, Jersey
·
Charged
1
Cannabis
3.1 g
Jade Hopkins, 35, was spared jail after admitting two offences of conveying a
controlled drug into La Moye prison, Jersey’s only prison.[1]Relief
Magistrate David Le Cornu accepted that the only explanation for the offences
was that Hopkins had been intimidated by her ex-partner.[1]
Crown Advocate Harrison Gollop, prosecuting, said Hopkins had carried 1.6 g of
cannabis inside her mouth during a visit to La Moye on 19 December last year.[1]Officers then searched her home and found a further 1.5 g of cannabis
intended for the same partner in prison.[1]
Defence advocate Adam Harrison said the offending arose from a controlling and
coercive relationship set out in a probation report, in which her ex-partner
intimidated her and her family at her home and affected her ability to make
decisions freely.[1]Harrison said Hopkins had worked in nursing and social
care but had been suspended from her studies to become a qualified nurse pending
the outcome of the case.[1]
Le Cornu said the offences passed the custody threshold but the case was so
exceptional as to justify departing from standard sentencing policy, and bound
her over on each charge for 12 months to be of good behaviour.[1]
The article does not state the date of the sentencing hearing; 9 November 2026 is its publication date and stands in for the incident date.
The cannabis is described only as cannabis at two weights, 1.6 g carried in on 19 December 2025 and 1.5 g found at her home; no product form (herbal or resin) was stated.
The total weight of 3.1 g combines the amount carried into the prison and the amount found at her home, which was not necessarily in the prison; figures show the total seized in the case.
The former partner is not named and no prosecution of him is reported.
No plea, no court record reference and no street value of the cannabis was reported.
Only one account of the hearing could be found; Bailiwick Express, Channel 103 and the Government of Jersey did not carry a readable report of it.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jailed Andrew Byrne, 45, for five years and one month after gardaí caught him transporting cannabis on the N7. Customs had intercepted a 42 kg package, valued at €840,000 and concealed in Tupperware, and he pleaded guilty to two counts of possession for sale or supply.
DNC officers in Nandigram, Bogura, arrested three people on 11 November 2026 and recovered 200 grams of ganja and five pieces of yaba. A mobile court jailed all three for one month of simple imprisonment and fined each 100 taka, and the magistrate destroyed the drugs on the spot.
Andrew Chard, 39, was sentenced to four years and eight months in Jersey's Royal Court on 24 July 2026 for importing 24 kg of cannabis resin hidden in the bumpers and engine bay of a hire car. Customs found the drug when he arrived on the ferry from Portsmouth on 16 March 2026; the maximum street value was £593,000.
Curtis Aubert, 23, was sentenced to 330 hours of community service on 30 April 2026 for his part in importing cannabis from Spain. He had met a courier at Jersey Airport in February 2024 who had swallowed 199 pellets containing about one kilogram of cannabis resin.
