Ice courier mum learns fate after flying $60k of drugs into Tassie

A drug running mum who carried up to $60,000 of ice by air from Melbourne to Launceston has been sentenced after pleading guilty to trafficking. LATEST >>

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A DRUG runner who carried up to $60,000 of ice by air from Melbourne to Launceston has been sentenced to two years in jail after pleading guilty to trafficking.

Christine Joy Radford, 40, of Devonport, was paid to make the trip in June 2016, and that money went to supporting her own drug habit.

Acting Justice Shane Marshall said Radford had been used by others as a courier but she was still a vital link in the chain of illicit drugs into Tasmania.

Radford has a long criminal history and came to the fresh attention of police after an international package to her then Hobart address containing 70 ice pipes was intercepted in that same year.

A seized phone also revealed evidence of sales of ice to others, the Supreme Court in Burnie was told.

He said Radford had suffered a very difficult life.

“That is not an excuse but puts her offending in context,” he said.

Radford’s mother had left when she was a child.

The court heard she had children to an abusive partner and in 2014 her rented house was burnt to the ground by a known criminal because Radford had given information to police.

In mid 2018, Radford learned she was pregnant again. The court was told she quit drugs straight away and has not offended since.

“Her maturity and her devotion to her new daughter has turned her life around,” Acting Justice Marshall said.

Radford was sentenced to two years jail but the term was suspended on the condition she not commit an offence punishable by imprisonment for two years.

Originally published as Ice courier mum learns fate after flying $60k of drugs into Tassie