A woman "drugs mule" who imported €500,000-worth of heroin has had her three-year sentence doubled to six years by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Breda Maguire (33), a single mother of two, who was born in Ireland but who has lived most of her life in London, had pleaded guilty at the Circuit Criminal Court last April to importing the drugs on May 20th, 2001.
Judge Desmond Hogan sentenced her to six years imprisonment but suspended the final three years of the term.
Yesterday, the three judge CCA granted an appeal by the DPP against the leniency of the sentence and decided that Maguire should serve the full six years sentence.
Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, presiding, said Maguire was arrested at Dublin Port as she tried to bring in two kilogrammes of heroin worth €500,000 on a boat from Liverpool.
She had been granted bail but absconded. She was later arrested on foot of extradition proceedings which she did not oppose.
The judge said the Oireachtas had marked the seriousness of the offence in the clearest possible terms by setting sentences that range from ten years to a maximum of life imprisonment except in specific and exceptional circumstances.
There did not appear to be specific or exceptional circumstances in the case and the court felt that the sentencing judge had made a significant departure from what was the appropriate sentence, he added.
In opposing the DPP's application, Mr George Birmingham SC, for Maguire, said she had given assistance to police on both sides of the Irish sea in identifying an hotel, train station and bars involved in her plan to bring the drugs into Ireland.
Although Maguire was born in Ireland, she had lived most of her life in England and would be serving her sentence in a foreign country, counsel said.
She had brought the drugs in to clear her debts and at the time of the offence was a serious drug addict with a heroin and cocaine addiction.