Why this young model risked her career taking drugs to jail
'I've told you from the beginning there is no way in the world you are ever going to jail for something like this'. These are the words a Queensland model was told after she attempted to take thousands of dollars worth of drugs into one of the state's prisons.
A YOUNG Queensland model attempted to take thousands of dollars worth of drugs into one of the state's prisons.
Connie Rose Doyle and her co-offender Scott James-Peck faced Brisbane District Court on Tuesday where each pleaded guilty to aggravated supply of a dangerous drug to a correctional facility.
Doyle is a 21-year-old model who has recently signed with a talent agency.
Doyle went to Woodford Correctional Centre to see James-Peck on June 15 last year.
Prison officers asked if she had anything to declare, so she handed over a blue package containing 135 strips of buprenorphine.
Buprenorphine sells for up to $50 per strip and is a prescription drug usually used in the treatment of heroin and methadone dependence.
The drugs were worth a street value of around $6750 but there was no plan to sell them.
The court heard James-Peck needed the substance to help him kick his own drug habit.
He decided having Doyle deliver the drugs to him was better than asking other prisoners to supply him with the chemical.
About three weeks after she was caught, Doyle had a phone conversation with James-Peck with the pair not realising the call was being monitored.
"I've told you from the beginning there is no way in the world you are ever going to jail for something like this," James-Peck told the Caloundra State High School graduate.
James-Peck also told Doyle he would deny any knowledge of their crime.
During Tuesday's sentencing before Judge Brian Devereaux, James-Peck and Doyle - a former Toowoomba resident - sat a few seats apart in the dock but they smiled at each other at times and spoke briefly when the judge was out of the room.
It was not made clear what the relationship was between them.
James-Peck is a Caloundra man who is serving a jail term for grievous bodily harm that is due to end in February, 2022.
In sentencing Doyle to six months in jail suspended for 12 months, Judge Devereaux noted the young model's clean criminal history, her traumatic childhood and the fact that she had a chronic medical problem.
"The offence of seeking to take drugs to a person who is incarcerated is very serious," Judge Devereaux told the Ramada Resort Golden Beach employee.
"It disrupts discipline and harms attempts to rehabilitate other prisoners."
Judge Devereaux said that James-Peck had remained drug free after being charged over the prison drug import plan.
James-Peck was sentenced to 15 months in jail and will be eligible to apply for parole in September.
Judge Devereaux said the man had a significant criminal history containing offences related to violence and drugs.
"Despite your really serious criminal history, you are still reasonably young and not without hope," Judge Devereaux told him. - NewsRegional
Originally published as Why this young model risked her career taking drugs to jail
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