Mother of drug-smuggling son to appeal his 23-year jail term claiming his firm was 'used'
A distraught former Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner has announced her family will appeal the prison sentence handed down to her son after he was locked up for 23 years for importing drugs.
Jonathan Arnold was part of a gang that was convicted of bringing drugs worth at least £135m into the UK and sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday.
Sue Arnold, Staffordshire's ex-Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner and a former Lichfield Conservative councillor, believes that far from being a "drug kingpin", her "cherished only child" was a dazed and confused Tramadol addict whose kind nature allowed his removals business to be used by vicious criminals to import massive amounts of drugs into the UK.
The boss of Real Estates Removals, 30-year-old Arnold, from Sutton Coldfield, admitted four charges of conspiracy to transport and supply drugs – cocaine, heroin and ketamine.
One of his co-defendants was Connor Fletcher, aged 25, of Bridgnorth Road, Wolverhampton. Fletcher drove an HGV into Dover from Calais containing 60 kg of cocaine, and was jailed for 12 years for conspiracy to import cocaine.
Mrs Arnold, who was too "mentally fragile" to attend the sentencing, was shocked at the length of her son's sentence.
She said: "I believe Jonathan's sentence was given without taking into consideration the mitigating factors, and he pleaded guilty which should have shortened the sentence. After consulting our legal team we will be appealing this lengthy sentence."
Former CEO and publisher Mrs Arnold, 63, is devastated how her son's crimes have wrecked "the autumn of their lives" and worried about the affect the sentence will have on her five-year-old grandson, fearing he could be bullied in future.
