UNEMPLOYED Briton, Heather Canovan, who on Sunday tried to export 11 pounds of cocaine was on Monday sentenced to four years imprisonment at hard labour and fined $850,000.

Canovan, a 44 year-old mother, was caught at about 2:30 Sunday at the Sangster International Airport after she had checked in to board an Air Tours flight destined for London. The drug was strapped to her body. She was later arrested and charged for possession of, dealing in and attempting to export it.

When she appeared before the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate’s Court Monday she pleaded guilty to the charges against her. But when asked if she had anything to say on her own behalf, she said “No”.

When Resident Magistrate Paulette Williams questioned her, however, she said she had tried to export the drugs because the “Yardies” had threatened her 23 year-old son’s life if she did not agree to participate in the illegal trade. She later admitted to the court that she would have been paid £3,000.

For possession of the drugs, she was fined $400,000 or six months. And for attempting to export it, she was fined $450,000 or six months and sentenced to a mandatory four years at hard labour.

If the fines are not paid, RM Williams said, Canovan would spend five years behind bars.