Former model gets 6 months in drugs case

A former model was sentenced to six months in prison at Dublin District Court yesterday for having cocaine for supply in a Dublin hotel room.

Samantha Blandford Hutton (31) was convicted of the offence last January but sentencing had been held over pending the production of a probation report.

Mr Alan Toal, defending, had asked the court for a non-custodial sentence, saying his client was "vulnerable" and would benefit from further counselling.

However, Judge Murrough Connellan said there should be equality before the law and "people who sell drugs should go to prison.

"This lady has had advantages in her life not afforded to others, yet she has decided to involve herself in this trade," he said.

The defendant had claimed the cocaine, found in the room in Jurys Towers Hotel, Ballsbridge, on December 2nd, 1997, was for her personal use.

Gardai discovered three tinfoil "wraps" of the drug under a sofa in the room along with a plastic bag with a small amount of cocaine in her handbag, and a list with names, dates, weights and amounts.

Mr Toal said his client was "a girl who has been in trouble for some period of time". After graduating from college, "she went into a steady spiral down" and became involved in drug abuse. However, the Coolmine report stated she now had the problem under control.

He added that she had been subjected to "unkind, adverse and scurrilous treatment by certain elements of the media". He said the court was obliged to take a dim view of her treatment outside the court and, with that in mind, he asked to submit letters vouching for her character which were written by her mother and other people.

Mr Toal said his client "is vulnerable. She always has been vulnerable and she will continue to be vulnerable." He invited the court to consider sentencing her to community service.

Judge Connellan said nobody's name had been blackened before his court. He rejected the request to submit letters, saying if anyone wished to make statements about her character they should step forward and do so.

He continued: "There is no doubt that certain people come before the court and one can deduce a certain lack of education that contributed to them slipping into the role they fulfil. But that it certainly not the case here.

"This lady benefited from a perfectly good upbringing and education. She is an intelligent lady, yet she involves herself in the drugs scene or culture."

He said there was no need to provide a lecture on the menace of drugs in society. It was not accepted by the public, the law or the courts.

The judge struck out the less serious charge of possession and fixed surety in the event of an appeal in her own bond of £100 plus an independent surety of £350.

Previously, the court heard Hutton had a conviction for burglary dating back to September 20th, 1989, when she received a 12-month suspended sentence.

Yesterday's sentencing brought to an end a case stretching back to early last year. It was adjourned several times after Hutton's lawyers pursued the possibility of having a Sunday newspaper cited for contempt.