Pregnant ex-soldier who took her little girl on drug run to Amsterdam will give birth in prison



Naomi Thriepland, 25, was jailed for four years but will have a baby in prison

Mother was caught by customs crossing the Channel with 3.4kg of heroin and her child beside her



She told officials she had been to Disneyland Paris, but in fact was in Amsterdam collecting the drugs

Former soldier served in Iraq and Afghanistan but quit to spend time with her daughter



Jailed: Naomi Thriepland tried to smuggle £170,000 of drugs into the UK with her daughter Aiesha beside her

A pregnant former soldier has been jailed for four years after trying to smuggle more than £170,000 of heroin – using her young daughter as cover.

Lance Corporal Naomi Thriepland, 25, took seven-year-old Aiesha with her to Amsterdam to collect the drugs.

When questioned by customs officials at the Channel Tunnel entrance near Calais, she pretended they had been to Disneyland Paris.

Staff eventually discovered the heroin, which had been hidden in her BMW convertible.

Thriepland, who served as a clerk attached to medics in Iraq and a bomb-disposal unit in Afghanistan, is four months pregnant and will give birth behind bars.

She told Canterbury Crown Court she had been seeking ‘better conditions’ for her family, but Judge Heather Norton responded: ‘You did what you did for financial gain.



'More than that, you took your seven-year-old child with you as some kind of family cover, putting that child at risk.

‘You claim you became a courier to give her a better life, but that child is now likely to suffer more than you.’

She added: ‘You have served this country with a number of tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and in perilous positions.



'So, whatever else can be said of you, this was certainly out of character.’

Thriepland, from Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, broke down in court as her forces record was mentioned.

She served in the Army for six years, but left after Aiesha wept on breakfast television programme GMTV shortly before Christmas in 2009 as she spoke to her mother via a satellite link.

Smuggler: Lance Corporal Thriepland with Aiesha, whose face is obscured for legal reasons

Well known: When a soldier, Thriepland appeared on to GMTV from Camp Bastion where she was serving and spoke to her daughter at Christmas

Story: The 25-year-old told customs officials she was returning from a trip to take her daughter to Disneyland in Paris in December 2011- but she had been to Amsterdam to load up with 3.44 kilos of heroin

Choice: The former soldier was earning £120 a week as a trainee beautician but accepted £8,000 to smuggle the heroin into Britain

Thriepland later found work as a trainee beautician, earning £105 for a 15-hour week. However, investigations revealed that £10,500 was deposited into her bank account, including £8,000 for the trip that resulted in her arrest last December.

Thriepland, who admitted attempting to smuggle drugs, was stopped at Coquelles in France as she tried to enter the UK with Aiesha, now eight and living with an aunt.

Distraction: The 25-year-old said she and her daughter had been in Paris but in fact her BMW was being stuffed with drugs in Amsterdam

Officials found Thriepland had 3.5kg of heroin, worth £172,000, as well as 12kg of cutting agents.

She said the consignment was hidden in the car while she and her daughter stayed in a hotel.

Thriepland denied making previous smuggling trips to Europe but confirmed she had gone on a ‘dummy run’ a month earlier.

Christopher Baur, defending, said she had not acted ‘in malice or wickedness but rather stupidity and with an element of greed’.

He added: ‘She did this because she wanted to better her situation, in particular for her child, and the irony is not lost on her.

‘She is 16 weeks pregnant. That was not planned and not done, as it were, in preparation for these proceedings. She will now give birth in prison.

‘The situation she finds herself in is dire, because she wasn’t coerced into it, but neither was she a major player in the enterprise.

‘She was quite naive. She did it to better conditions for her child.’



The father of Thriepland’s unborn baby, Anwar Pitters, told the Daily Mail he would stand by her.

‘We are still together and will be while she is in prison until she comes out,’ he said.



‘I will try to get custody of our unborn child but need to speak to Naomi first.



'I won’t know any more until I speak to her.’

Malcolm Bragg, of the Border Force, which has been responsible for security at ports since last March, said: ‘Drug trafficking is a serious offence and those convicted will face prison sentences.

‘Our message to those who would consider it is that it’s just not worth it.’

Shame: Thriepland quit her life in the army after serving in Afghanistan and Iraq because she wanted to spend more time with her daughter Mother: Thriepland with her seven-year-old daughter. She quit the army to spend more time with her Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, where Thriepland served. She was in a Bomb Disposal Unit attached to the Grenadier Guards and was previously stationed in Iraq

Shame: Naomi Thriepland will now have to have her baby in prison after being jailed for four years this week