By Isabel Hayes
An English teenage girl with no history of offending caught bringing over half a million Euro worth of cannabis into the country last year has been jailed for two and a half years.
Madison Jenkins (19) was just 18 years’ old when she was stopped at Dublin Airport and 15 packages of cannabis with a street value of €520,000 were found in her suitcase, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.
Jenkins, with an address in Waterdale Close, Liverpool, flew in from Bangkok via Abu Dhabi and was due to fly on to the UK when she was stopped by customs officers on May 14 last year.
She came forward to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on signed guilty pleas to possessing cannabis for sale or supply over the value of €13,000 under section 15A of the Misuse of Drugs Act.
It is an offence that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Jenkins also entered guilty pleas to three lesser drug charges.
She has no previous convictions.
During a previous hearing, Garrett McCormack SC, defending, handed in a letter to court from Jenkins which he said outlined “how she found herself in this situation”.
He said there was “pressure and features of duress” in the offence.
The case was adjourned to allow the prosecution some time to look into the contents of Jenkins’ letter.
Yesterday, the court was told that while some supporting evidence for Jenkins’ position was found on her phone, there was more contradictory information including text messages about the use, purchase and sale of ketamine between Jenkins and others.
Jenkins’ mother also messaged her while she was in Bangkok warning her that the trip may not be free, and she could be asked to carry a bag out of the country.
Messages also suggested that Jenkins had free movement while in Bangkok.
Mr McCormack said his instructions are that his client maintains her position and is aware that it is not accepted by the authorities in this jurisdiction.
He asked the court not to treat this as an aggravating feature.
Imposing sentence, Judge Elma Sheahan said the seriousness of the offending was aggravating.
She said the court would not treat the letter as an aggravating feature, but as showing a lack of insight.
The judge said Jenkins’ youth and early guilty pleas allowed the court to depart from the presumptive mandatory minimum sentence of ten years.
Having considered the significant mitigation, the judge handed down a sentence of two and a half years, backdated to June 16, 2025, when Jenkins went into custody.
Garda Anthony Boyle told Grainne O’Neill BL, prosecuting, at an earlier sentence hearing that Jenkins said she had been staying in an apartment in Bangkok for the week prior to her arrival in Dublin and that a lot of people were coming and going through this apartment.
She did not concede to gardaí that she was carrying the drugs for another person.
Jenkins has been in custody since she was arrested at the airport.
Her mother travelled from the UK to support her in court.
Mr McCormack said there was no evidence Jenkins received any money for her actions and that she had only a small quantity of English notes on her when she was arrested.
She comes from a difficult family background, with her father dying tragically when she was only four years’ old.
Her letter shows she is “contrite” and she is using her time well in custody, defence counsel said.