Promising young footballer stopped at airport after 'stupid decision' in Bangkok

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A promising young football player admitted he 'hadn't been honest with police' after being questioned at an airport. Jamie Kilcourse, 21, was stopped by Border Force officers at Manchester Airport after returning home from a holiday with pals in Bangkok, Thailand, on October 8, 2024.

He had two large suitcases he had with him - and when asked if he had packed them himself, he confirmed he had. Before handing them the key to the cases, Kilcourse also denied carrying anything for another person. On Wednesday, Manchester Crown Court heard inside were 64 vacuum-sealed packages of cannabis weighing 38.78 kilos

Upon finding the drugs, Kilcourse, from Liverpool, said: “I haven’t been honest - I didn’t pack the suitcases.” Giving evidence from the witness box, Kilcourse was asked about why he got involved.

As reported by the Manchester Evening News, he said he had to leave his job as a footballer for League Two team Tranmere Rovers to care for his grandmother full time, after she was diagnosed with cancer. He was also caring for his grandfather, and was receiving a carer's allowance, he said.

Kilcourse said: “My mum and dad couldn’t afford to take time off work so I stepped down from my career and cared for my grandad and my nan.” With his job came regular drug testing, and he said he did not have a problem with alcohol or drugs. He said he went to Thailand with some friends using the money from his savings. When asked by his barrister, Katie Walden, why he made the trip, he said it was following the death of his grandmother.

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“I decided to go Thailand because my mum and dad had recently split up, the closest person to me was my nan. I was mentally not right, so I got away to make myself better,” he said. “I went with my mates to take some time and get my head off things.”

He was asked about why he brought the drugs into the UK. He told the court he wanted to ‘take responsibility’ for his friend’s drug debt. He said: “It was a stupid decision. My mate’s only 18 and I felt responsible to take it on. Now, looking back, I should never have got myself in it - I deeply regret that.”

He said some of his friends were in a different villa to him, and when they went there to get ready for the night, he was told they owed money to ‘some Scouse lads’ who were also on the island. He added the ‘Scousers’ pointed to some suitcases and said ‘someone needed to do it’, and he took responsibility because he was ‘the oldest’.

“I didn’t know what was inside, I thought it was money. When I found out it was illegal, I was distraught and I regret it,” he added. Kilcourse said he didn’t receive ‘not one penny’ for transporting the drugs, and stated he was ‘sickened’ to see the drugs in the suitcase.

Mitigating, Ms Walden said Kilcourse had expressed ‘remorse and regret’. “He has a realistic prospect of rehabilitation, and wants to go back playing football or coaching football,” she said. “He has spent the last three months in custody. I ask for a suspended sentence, not a get out of jail free card but because he has a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.”

Kilcourse, of Anzio Road, Liverpool, was handed ten months imprisonment which was suspended for 18 months. He must complete 150 hours unpaid work and 10 days of rehabilitation activity requirements. Judge Timothy Smith told him: “You are somebody a lot of people speak well of. Do not be tempted to involve yourself in this again, because you know what the consequences are."

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