Glamorous drug mule caught attempting to smuggle 35kg of hashish into UK needs to go to SCHOOLS so she will be able to urge youngsters to avoid lifetime of crime
A glamorous drug mule spared jail after being caught attempting to smuggle over 35kg of cannabis into the UK hopes to visit schools so she can urge children not to make the same mistake she did.
Shamed ex-nurse Levi-April Whalley, now 31, and close friend Sophie Bannister, 30, have admitted making a ‘stupid’ decision – but blamed their downfall on being ‘groomed’ by international criminals.
Since unsuccessfully trying to bring the drugs – worth around £160,000 – hidden inside two suitcases on a flight from New York to Birmingham in December 2023, Whalley has given birth to a baby, a daughter now aged five months.
After both were given suspended prison sentences, she said becoming a mother had made her realise why drug smuggling has to carry such heavy penalties – a maximum of 14 years’ imprisonment in the case of cannabis.
The pair – both originally from Blackburn, Lancashire – have nearly 60,000 followers on Instagram, and until their arrest regularly posted about enjoying beach holidays around the world.
They claim that a woman Bannister had met in Marbella offered them a free holiday in New York in return for bringing back what they thought were watches and jewellery.
The pair were among 134 suspects arrested for smuggling a total of 5,609kg of cannabis into UK airports in 2023.
Last year a staggering 26,924kg was seized from around 750 smugglers flying into UK airports – a five-fold increase on the year before.
Shamed ex-nurse Levi-April Whalley, 31, who was spared jail over attempting to smuggle drugs, hopes to visit schools so she can urge children not to make the same mistake she did
Whalley, pictured on a boat in Thailand in 2023, admitted making a ‘stupid’ decision – but blamed her downfall on being ‘groomed’ by international criminals
The drugs in Whalley’s were estimated at £121,500, while Bannister’s suitcase had an estimated street value of £40,500
Saying she now bitterly regrets accepting the offer, Whalley said: ‘I’d love to be able to speak to people now and go in schools and try to change and people.
‘I’d really like to open people’s eyes up and say always think twice about every opportunity that’s offered to you, because it’s not always the route that you should go down.
‘You’ve got to think about the whole of the consequences, not just one angle of things.
‘You’ve not got to just go in and think “Oh yeah, it’s a free holiday, let’s go and do this”.’
Whalley – who faces being struck off the nursing register and has retrained offering beauty treatments – said her baby daughter was her ‘biggest blessing’.
‘I didn’t realize how much children do change you,’ she added.
‘I want the best for my daughter.’
Asked if that had brought it home to her why drug smuggling can carry such strong punishments, she said: ‘Yes of course it does.’
Close friend Sophie Bannister, 30, (pictured) – was also given a suspended prison sentence for her part in attempting to smuggle drugs into the UK
Whalley and Bannister are pictured on a trip to New York City in 2023 before they were caught with the drugs
Since their arrest, neither has committed any other offences and Whalley (pictured) has become a mother to a young baby, the court heard
Saying she wanted to share her message of the perils of being ‘grooming’ into becoming a drugs mule, Whalley said: ‘It worries me for my own daughter, exploitation.
‘I wouldn’t want her to be exploited. I want her to choose the right actions in the future.
‘It’s always “Do you want to go on holiday?!
‘Don’t be sucked into this type of false reality. We just got sucked into it.’
Text messages between Bannister (pictured) and Whalley later revealed that the pair had become involved in a lucrative plot to import cannabis into the UK
Bannister (pictured) and Whalley told border officials they had been on a three-day shopping spree in the Big Apple
