A probation officer from England has been sentenced to serve 18 months in prison for attempting to export cocaine in bottles of wine.

Anoushca McConnell, 27, pleaded guilty to possession of, dealing in and taking steps to export cocaine when the matter was mentioned in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.

Allegations read in court are that the accused checked in at the Norman Manley International Airport on a flight destined for London, England. When her luggage was searched, liquid cocaine was found in four bottles of Stone's Ginger wine and four bottles of G-Force roots wine.

Her attorney, in pleading for mercy from Senior Resident Magistrate Glen Brown, said McConnell did not know cocaine was in the bottles, but chose to plead guilty as she did not want to waste the court's time.

He said the accused had an eight-year-old daughter and so he was asking for as lenient a sentence as possible.

After listening to the attorney's submission, RM Brown sentenced the accused to 18 months for possession of cocaine. She was admonished and discharged for dealing in cocaine and sentenced to 18 months for taking steps to export cocaine. RM Brown, however, said the sentences should run concurrently, hence McConnell will only serve 18 months in prison.