An ex-Arensal Academy football player has been imprisoned for four years for his involvement in a £ 600,000 drug smuggling Plot after a court heard his financial difficulties after a period of contract led to a “catastrophic judgment”.
Jay Emmanuel -Thomas was arrested after officers of the National Crime Agency had seized an estimated £ 600,000 in cannabis because it was brought by two women by Stansted that he had recruited – his girlfriend and her boyfriend.
An earlier hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex was told that the women believed they imported gold.
But Border Force Officers discovered around 60 kg (132 lb) of the medicine in two suitcases, which had arrived from Bangkok, Thailand, via Dubai in the UK.
The 34-year-old striker, from Cardwell Road in GOROCK, Inverclryde, was arrested in the city in September 2024.
He argued guilty during an earlier hearing for fraudulent avoidance of the ban on the import of Cannabis between July 1, 2024 and 2 September 2024.
Emmanuel-Thomas was fired by the Scottish Championship Side Greenock Morton after his arrest last year.
Public Prosecutor David Josse KC told Chelmsford Crown Court to the “interception” of the two women – the girlfriend of Emmanuel -Thomas Yasmin Piotrowska and her friend Rosie Rowland – happened at the airport.
He said it became “clear that this suspect, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, had been involved in their recruitment to travel to Thailand.”
He noted that Emmanuel-Thomas “had played a few games for a club in Thailand”.
The lawyer said that Emmanuel-Thomas “had some consciousness and understanding of the scale of the operation” and acted in an “operational management function” in the plot.
He pointed to the “relationship of the suspect with Mrs. Piotrowska” when describing the recruitment of the two women.
The football player, whose former clubs Ipswich, Bristol City, QPR, Livingston, Aberdeen and Thai Side PTT Rayong were convicted on Thursday.
The bearded suspect wore a gray packing jacket and black shirt, with his long hair wiped back while listening to the procedure from the secure dock.
Mrs. Piotrowska was in the public gallery and cried for a large part of the hearing.
Alex Rose, for Emmanuel-Thomas, said: “The financial profit in this case for Mr. Emmanuel-Thomas was £ 5,000.”
Mr. Rose said that the suspect was a father of two and had made a “catastrophic assessment error”.
He said that a “period of no contract was led to very important financial difficult times” and he “collapsed for temptation”.
“Although he had previously experienced periods between contracts or – in a different way – unemployed as a football player, they had largely been on the back of fairly lucrative long -term contracts,” said Mr. Rose.
He said that the “situation in the background was quite different”.
“After he had no longer had a contract before he signed up for Greenock Morton, he had a short contract with Kidderminster Harriers, but that was very much a short -term contract, almost to try to help someone he had a good relationship,” he said.
Mr. Rose continued: “His football career has been completed and that is something that he has completely put on himself.
“It is a devastating blow to someone who had such a promise and such an impressive football career.”
Judge Alexander Mills, who has captured Emmanuel-Thomas for four years, said: “It is because of your own action that you will no longer be known for playing professional football.
“You will be known as a criminal. A professional football player who threw it all away.”
The judge said that Emmanuel-Thomas had played five games for Greenock Morton and had a contract of £ 600 a week at the time of the incident.
He said that the defendant “recruited” his girlfriend and her boyfriend and “essentially the import of cannabis turned into a paid holiday in the Far East”, arranging business class flights, hotel costs and discussed in reports how to maximize their time on the Thai island of Ko Samui.
Emmanuel-Thomas looked straight ahead while the judge read his punishment.
He nodded at the public gallery when he was led to the cells.
Mrs. Piotrowska, 33, from Purves Road, Kensal Rise, Northwest London, and Mrs. Rowland, 29, from Southend Road, Chelmsford, Essex, denied the indictment and in an earlier hearing did not provide proof in their case.
Mr. Josse said during an earlier hearing that the women “said they thought they imported gold, not cannabis,” and the judge did not state that no guilty judgments were recorded for them.