John FitzGerald secures acquittal in million pound drug importation trial

John FitzGerald, instructed by Karamjit Singh of Bark & Co Solicitors, defended a Dutch national who was stopped carrying 40,000 ecstasy tablets, thousands of ampthetamine tablets, hundreds of LSD tabs as well as 2 kilograms of powder believed to be cocaine. The defendant was studying child psychology at university and worked part time in a children’s nursery. The back seats of the defendant’s vehicle had been adapted to conceal the drugs although the LSD was found in his underpants. The defence case was that he was travelling to the UK as a personal shopper on behalf of a friend who had duped him into making the journey. Successful submissions regarding disclosure of the defendant’s mobile phone download provided support for an otherwise implausible story. Solicitors managed to secure last minute translation services of the 40,000 pages of phone evidence during the short trial, which proved pivotal.