Welsh man jailed for importing €750k worth of cannabis into Ireland

Sonya McLean

A man who was caught importing just under €750,000 worth of cannabis into Ireland has been jailed for four years.

Michael Hayter (40) of Marine Street, Abergavenny, Wales, came forward to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on signed pleas of guilty from the District Court.

He pleaded guilty to having the cannabis for sale or supply and having the drugs for importation at Dublin Airport on July 20th, 2025. He has no previous convictions in Ireland or any other jurisdiction.

Garda Andrew Fay told Patrick Jackson BL, prosecuting, that Hayter was stopped by customs in the airport and the drugs, worth an estimated €743,200, were found in his luggage.

He told gardaí that he was approached while travelling in Cambodia. He said he had been offered £2,000 (€2,304) to transport the drugs.

He was due to organise a taxi when he arrived into Dublin Airport and the driver would then collect the drugs and give him the money for his role.

Judge Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin said that Hayter clearly knew that he was carrying drugs and that he got involved for financial gain.

She acknowledged, however, that his involvement was at a lower level and accepted the garda evidence that he was “acting as a courier or a mule”.

“Drugs are a scourge – I may have no job to do if it were not for drugs,” Judge Ní Chúlacháin said before she added that the drug dealers would not be able to function without people like Hayter.

Addressing Hayter directly, Judge Ní Chúlacháin said “You are enabling them to thrive and flourish”.

She sent a headline sentence of eight years in prison before she accepted in mitigation the very early guilty pleas entered by Hayter which saved “the unforeseen pitfalls of a criminal prosecution”.

She also accepted that he had no history of offending and that he otherwise lived a pro-social life.

Judge Ní Chúlacháin further acknowledged that Hayter will be separated from his family during his time in Irish prison before she imposed a sentence of four years.

The term was backdated to when he first went into custody on his arrest last July.

Gda Fay agreed with Dominic McGinn SC, defending, that Hayter was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and lost his job.

He had previously worked in the construction industry and had served time in the British army.

It was accepted that his role was to transport the drugs, and as suc,h he was “acting as a courier or a mule”.

Mr McGinn said his client had written a letter to the court expressing his remorse.

He said Hayden had been “a constructive member of society” until his diagnosis which led to “the unwinding of his life”.