A 43-year-old British man was sentenced to eight years behind bars for importing almost $100,000 worth of heroin.

Bryan David Sims of Colchester, England, pleaded guilty in Supreme Court yesterday to bringing 97 grams of heroin with a street value of $97,000 into Bermuda on May 19, last year.

Crown counsel Nicole Smith elected not to pursue a second charge of possession with intent to supply at the time, but for the charge to be recorded.

Sims, who appeared unfazed by his sentence, had asked the court for leniency because of his personal circumstances.

He said: "I am very sorry for what I have done. I did have weight bearing down on my shoulders by my friends and family.

"I did it for the money to give it to someone else not for myself. I hope you can find some leniency for me."

Yesterday the court heard that around 6.30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19, Sims arrived in Bermuda on a British Airways flight from London with a brown briefcase and one checked bag.

According to the prosecution he told customs officials he was going to stay at the Grotto Bay Hotel for seven days while he played cricket.

Sims was ordered to the customs' bag-check area where swabs of his luggage revealed high readings of narcotics. Customs' officials searched his bags, but found no drugs.

A personal search of Sims at the L.F. Wade International Airport Police Station and X-rays performed at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital did not reveal any drugs on the British man. Sims was then released from Police custody.

The next morning a cleaner swept the airport Police station and found a suspicious package under the desk.

Forensic experts took DNA and fingerprints from the container and a log of the room showed that Sims had been the only detained person since May 14.

On June 2, from information they received, narcotics officers, along with Marine Police, searched a boat called Miss Wendy which wasin Southampton.

They arrested Sims who admitted the boat was a crack den and that he had been smoking crack on the boat. Further inquiries revealed Sims did not have a reservation at Grotto Bay.

While in custody at the Hamilton Police Station DNA specimens were obtained from Sims and they matched those on the vial found in the airport Police station.

Yesterday Sims' defence lawyer Patricia Harvey argued that the father of eight was still recovering from the loss of his son seven years ago.

This, she said, is what led the massage therapist down the path to substance abuse. And recently his goddaughter's mother discovered she had multiple sclerosis (MS).

Sims was transporting the drugs to help pay for her stem cell treatment in the United States.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves said that previous cases of larger drug hauls with similar prison time — eight years had clearly not deterred drug importers.

He then sentenced Sims to eight years imprisonment including time served.