An ex-English Army soldier who worked as a courier for a London-based Irish drug baron was today jailed for 10 years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his role in a £400,000 heroin operation.
Spencer Byrne (33), a father of two, who is originally from Coventry, was found guilty after a four-day trial on July 9th last of having the heroin valued £400,000 with intent to supply it.
Byrne and another criminal called Terry Healy, who was married to a sister of an alleged Irish drugs baron living in London, were caught with the heroin when gardaí raided his room in the Aston Hotel in Dublin city centre on April 14th, 2000.
Healy, who wasIrish born but lived in the London area, died on remand on this charge.
Judge Dominic Lynch, who jailed Byrne for the mandatory 10 years under current legislation for possession of drugs valued over £10,000, said he took his background into account and the influence exerted on him by Healy, but said drugs had an evil effect on society.
Detective Garda John Heaney, from the North Central Divisional Drug Unit, told prosecuting counsel, Mr Dominic McGinn BL, that confidential information led to the search of the room where they found the men along with the two kilograms of heroin.
Detective Garda Heaney agreed with defence counsel, Mr Patrick Marrinan SC, that Byrne was acting as a courier and was not a central figure in the operation.
Byrne had claimed in evidence that Healy forced him to take the drugs to Ireland to repay a debt arising out of stolen money and threatened to kill a member of his family if he didn't do it.
He said he considered killing Healy when he came looking for him in the US where he lived for two years, but did not because his family would still be in danger from his associates.
Mr McGinn suggested to the jury that Byrne was not under any duress when he took part in the drugs run and his claims that he was forced to take part in the operation were not truthful.
He said that by April 2000, when both men came to Ireland with the heroin, they had resolved their difficulties and Byrne was working for Healy to pay off his debt to him.
Mr McGinn also suggested that the threats over Byrne's family had also been removed at that stage and he used Healy's death to build a structure of lies around the events.
Counsel said that if Byrne's family was really in danger as he claimed, Healy's death would not have changed that because his associates would still blame Byrne and his family for the stolen money and the further loss of the £400,000 of heroin.
Mr McGinn said Byrne would not have blackened Healy's name in the trial for fear of reprisals by Healy's associates, if his claims were true. His family have not received any threats from Healy's associates whom Byrne said he also feared.
Mr Marrinantold Judge Lynch that his client served in the English Army for seven years and left in 1991 after completing a tour of duty in Germany.Some years later he met Healy while serving a prison sentence for a non-drug related matter.
He said Byrne succumbed to temptation to act as a courier in ambiguous circumstances, but he was co-operative with the gardaí when he was arrested.
Mr Marrinan pleaded with Judge Lynch for leniency because Byrne is a non-national. He said he will not be able to see members of his family because relations were strained between him and his father and his children were now living in Australia.
He added that Byrne received no visits since going into custody when arrested on this charge.