Privy Council backs Jurats in drugs case

Friday 24th March 2006, 12:00AM GMT.

A LANDMARK judgment by the Privy Council – the highest court that can decide on Jersey cases – has delivered an important endorsement of the role of Jurats in Jersey’s courts.

The ruling has restated in clear terms that it is the Jurats who are pre-eminent in deciding on matters of fact.

The Attorney General, William Bailhache, issued a statement today following the publication of the reasons behind their decision to recommend a guilty verdict against the drug money launderer Yvonne Edmond-O’Brien.

Having been convicted of knowing or suspecting that hundreds of thousands of pounds she banked for her husband were the proceeds of his prolific drug smuggling, she was sentenced to seven years in jail.

Her now estranged husband, Michael O’Brien, a butcher, was convicted of smuggling large quantities of cannabis, speed, heroin and ecstasy hidden in meat consignments.

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