Drug mule caught with £436,000 haul stuffed in suitcases at Scots airport jailed

A drug mule caught bringing a haul worth nearly half a million pounds into Scotland from Thailand in suitcases has been jailed.

Jayne Sutcliffe was caught with two shrinkwrapped suitcases stuffed with more than 50kg of cannabis.

The drugs weighed 51.36kg and could fetch as much as £436,000 when sold on.

The 43-year-old was arrested off a flight from Bangkok when it touched down at Glasgow Airport.

The details emerged today, Friday, Dedember 19, 2025, when Sutcliffe, of Stockport, Greater Manchester, appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court.

She had earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs at the airport on March 13 this year.

Defence solicitor Tony Callahan said she was a vulnerable woman with learning difficulties and had been duped by gangsters.

He said: "She tells me she was asked to go to Thailand to move quantities of cannabis within the borders of that country, where cannabis is legal.

"She travelled to Thailand on a one-way ticket which was paid for by others.

"She was met at the hotel and told she would be returning to the UK and told that if she didn't agree they wouldn't be paying for her flight home and she couldn't afford that herself.

"She would effectively have been stuck in Thailand if she hadn't agreed.

"She suffers from anxiety and was anxious on the flight."

He said she decided on the flight not to collect the cases at the other end, planning to leave them at the airport and leave with only her passport.

But she was approached on the flight and escorted to the cases as they had been scanned.

He added: "On the flight home she just wanted to get home but, unfortunately, at that stage in the process she was in too far.

"She's made a terrible mistake. She devotes her life to caring for others. She looks after her mother and her two young children."

He asked for Sutcliffe to be spared jail, saying she only had one previous conviction, for a drink-driving offence.

He said that, although she is unable to work she would be suitable for unpaid work if given light duties.

Sheriff Sheena Fraser said: "You came to the UK from Bangkok with 51.36k of cannabis.

"I'm told the value is between £193,600 and £436,000 - the value is extremely high.

"You made a conscious decision to play a large part by bringing a large quantity of drugs into the country.

"I consider there is no alternative to a custodial sentence.

"Society's displeasure at such offences must be marked by a jail sentence.

"You only have one previous conviction for a drink-driving offence also I am effectively treating you as a first offender."

She jailed Sutcliffe for 14 months, reduced from two years as she admitted her guilt.

Two of Sutcliffe's loved ones burst into tears and ran from the court room at the news she was being jailed for the offence.