WOMAN 'TOO FAT' TO CARRY DRUGS JAILED

Customs officers welcomed a three-year jail term imposed yesterday on a
mother of eight who was rejected as a drugs mule because she was too fat to
conceal heroin under her clothes.

Frances Brett, a size 32, travelled back to Britain from Pakistan
empty-handed after the gang decided she would be spotted by customs
officers with "extra padding" strapped to her thighs.

Brett, 45, of Tile Hill, Coventry, was jailed at Birmingham crown court
after being found guilty at an earlier hearing of conspiracy to smuggle
drugs into Britain.

Investigators believe the gang abandoned a plan to strap heroin with a
street value of UKP 300,000 to Brett's thighs and shins and "smooth out" the
drugs using long johns. A customs and excise spokesman said: "The judge is
clearly sending out the right message. She had been recruited and was
willing to smuggle heroin."

The spokesman said five co-conspirators had been jailed for a total of 53
years at other hearings, after a joint operation with national crime squad
officers.