A 63-year-old wheelchair-bound grandmother from Gloucester has been jailed for eight years for masterminding an international plot to smuggle cocaine into the UK.

Eileen Cresswell, a grandmother of eight, was found guilty by majority verdict at Bristol Crown Court of playing an integral role in a conspiracy to import thousands of pounds of the Class A drug from the West Indies.

The jury of seven women and five men took two and a half hours to find the former post office worker guilty of organising a gang of couriers to smuggle cocaine into the UK between April 1, 1997 and March 21, 1998.

Grey-haired Cresswell, known as 'Nan' to her friends, recruited couriers to travel to the West Indies and bring back drugs in cavities in their shoes.

Not only did she help book and pay for their flights, she would also drive them to and from Gatwick Airport in her own Ford Sierra.

Once in Jamaica, the 'mules' would be met by Cresswell's contacts, have their shoes adapted, and given quantities of drugs to carry back to the UK in their footwear.

Cresswell, , of Chequers Road, Gloucester, who denied the charge, would ensure the 'mules' travelled in pairs to deflect suspicion, but one or both would be expected to return with drugs in their shoes.

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