MONTEGO BAY, St James — A 68-year-old British domestic assistant has walked free from a Jamaican parish court after a judge dismissed all cocaine smuggling charges against him, ruling that prosecutors failed to prove he knowingly hid nearly four pounds of the illicit drug in packaged food for export to the United Kingdom.
Lloyd Swimmer, a resident of London, was found not guilty last Tuesday on four separate charges: possession of cocaine, trafficking of cocaine, attempted export of cocaine, and conspiracy to commit drug offenses. The verdict, delivered by St James Parish Court presiding judge Natiesha Fairclough-Hylton, centered on two critical gaps in the prosecution’s case: unreliable witness testimony and a lack of evidence that Swimmer was aware of the cocaine hidden in his carry-on luggage.
The legal proceedings trace back to an incident at Sangster International Airport’s departure lounge on February 23, 2025. Acting on an anonymous tip, narcotics investigators approached Swimmer as he waited in the check-in line for a flight bound for London’s Heathrow Airport. Swimmer was in the company of a woman when officers stopped him, and when questioned, the woman clarified she was not traveling with him. Swimmer voluntarily provided his travel documents, confirmed he was traveling with two bags, and consented to a full search of his luggage. At that time, he told investigators no one had given him any items to carry back to the UK, a statement that prosecutors later challenged.
A search of Swimmer’s large checked suitcase turned up no illegal contraband. Shortly after the search concluded, the woman who had been with Swimmer hugged him briefly and left the airport terminal. Investigators then turned their attention to his carry-on bag, where they discovered a brown shopping bag holding four pre-packaged food items: three packets labeled as a popular brand of coffee, and one labeled almond porridge mix. When one of the coffee packets was cut open, officers found a white powdery substance that tested positive for cocaine. A subsequent examination at the Firearms and Narcotics Investigation Division (FNID) confirmed the seizure totalled 3 pounds and 11 ounces of cocaine.
When confronted with the find, Swimmer told officers he had no knowledge of the drug, and claimed he had never even seen cocaine before. He explained that the packaged food items had been given to him by a woman named Kay, and added that his vision was severely impaired by glaucoma, making it impossible for him to closely inspect the sealed packages.
In her ruling, Judge Fairclough-Hylton emphasized that the prosecution’s key civilian witness — the woman who had given Swimmer the packages and was with him at the airport — had given inconsistent testimony that fell apart under cross-examination, leaving her evidence inadmissible for lack of credibility. The judge also accepted the defense’s argument that Swimmer did not act with willful blindness to the contents of the packages. The court noted that Swimmer, who has severe vision impairment, took what reasonable steps he could to confirm the items were legal before packing them, conduct that contradicts claims he knowingly agreed to transport illicit drugs.
Under Jamaican criminal law, the prosecution is required to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Finding that this standard had not been met, the judge acquitted Swimmer on all counts.
Following the verdict, defense attorney Martyn Thomas spoke to reporters about the outcome. “It is a matter of considerable relief that Swimmer has been fully exonerated. His ordeal has now come to an end, and he is in a position to move forward and resume his life,” Thomas said.