A married father-of-three has been sentenced to five years in jail for a “sophisticated scheme” that saw him rope a customs officer into a plot to import drugs.Shannon Berkley, 42, from Warwick, pleaded guilty to the offence on March 30, 2011. He was originally charged alongside former customs officer Bromwin Thompson, who denied any role in the conspiracy and has since been cleared.The jury in Mr Thompson's trial in April was not told that Berkley had admitted the crime. They heard allegations that Mr Thompson conspired with his friend Berkley to import cannabis and cannabis resin worth $54,725.Mr Thompson was working at the FedEx courier facility in Serpentine Road, Pembroke, at the time they arrived on the Island in two packages in 2009. Prosecutor Nicole Smith presented the trial with phone records that she said demonstrated how he and Berkley exchanged information about the packages. She alleged Mr Thompson's role was to look out for them and intercept them.Mr Thompson denied any role in the plot. He admitted exchanging calls and messages with Berkley but said he had no idea anything illegal was afoot, and was merely looking out for parcels for his friend.The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the first charge Mr Thompson faced relating to the package of cannabis. They cleared him of the second charge, relating to cannabis resin.Ms Smith did not ask for a retrial and dropped the charge the jury had been hung on, allowing Mr Thompson to walk free from court with his name clear. He no longer works as a customs officer.Sentencing Berkley today to two years for the cannabis and three years for the resin, to run consecutively, Mr Justice Greaves said: “This defendant has shown himself to be a sophisticated businessman in the illegal drug industry. Not only has he previously been convicted and had a substantial sum forfeited, but in [this] case it's a sophisticated scheme where he was able to employ the services of a public servant, a customs officer, in order to achieve his objective.“Whether that involvement [of Mr Thompson] was innocent or not, it's an aggravating factor, and strikes at the confidence of John Citizen.”