FOUR drugs smugglers jailed for a total of almost 50 years for bringing £1.75m of cocaine into Southampton dock have had their prison sentences slashed at the Court of Appeal.

The three women and one man, who were caught as they returned from the Caribbean cruise on P&O’s Arcadia last summer, were each jailed for 12 years after admitting importing cocaine.

But now they have had their jail terms cut to ten-and-a-half years by top judges.

Daily Echo: Click below to see a video of today's headlines in sixty seconds

Natalie Quinn, 26, of Rochdale, Calvin Hylton, 41, of Manchester, Briony Dyce, 26, of Birmingham, and Camille Dupee, 20, of West Bromwich, had been recruited into the smuggling operation by much more serious criminals to act as couriers for the deadly Class A drug.

During the 23-day cruise, they visited several Caribbean islands where all four disembarked and collected the drugs.

The ship’s security officer Bob Ward became suspicious of the four, who looked “out of place”, and contacted Revenue and Customs. The four were found to have cocaine strapped to their bodies when they were stopped and searched as they attempted to leave the ship after their cruise.

After their arrest, Hylton was found to be carrying 6kg of cocaine, Dupee had 5kg, Dyce had 4kg and Quinn had 4.94kg.

Sentencing them at Southampton Crown Court in January, Judge Derwin Hope said couriers played an important role in the drugs supply chain and had to be punished sternly.

But lawyers for the four argued that the jail terms were “manifestly excessive”.

All were of previous good character and had heaped shame on their families. Both Quinn and Hylton were parents of four children.

Allowing their appeals, Lord Justice Hughes, Lord Justice Etherington and Mr Justice Holroyde ruled that, despite the seriousness of the offence, Judge Hope had taken too high a starting point for the sentence before giving them the standard one-third reduction for pleading guilty.

Mr Justice Holroyde said: “In short, these are appellants who are entitled to be treated as persons of good character, who have been drawn into serious crime and who, now facing remaining in prison for a long time, bitterly regret ever having been involved.”

He added: “It is true that they were only couriers, but they were also persons who actually brought the cocaine into this country and so played a vital part.

“Important though the role of the appellants was, they were no higher in the criminal hierarchy than couriers and we are very conscious that the sentences on them have to be proportionate to those above them in the hierarchy, if ever the real organisers are brought to justice.”