Overview
- The Court of Appeal reduced Nicole France’s prison term to 22 months, replacing the 30-month sentence imposed at Chester Crown Court.
- The three-judge panel ruled the original judge gave too little weight to her 12-year-old son's welfare and to her physical and mental health.
- France, 53, had pleaded guilty to possessing Class A and Class B drugs with intent to supply after a sniffer dog stopped her at the Creamfields festival in Daresbury, Cheshire.
- Police said she admitted carrying nearly £2,500 of ketamine and ecstasy hidden internally and told officers she acted on a dealer’s instruction.
- Her defence cited addiction, trauma from a violent relationship, and a vulnerable child at home, and the ruling signals courts must balance deterrence in drug cases with serious personal mitigation.