Face of Nation : A British man who made it across the Torres Strait on a jet ski trying to flee drug supply charges in Western Australia is due to be sentenced over the audacious bid.
Armed with a crossbow and loaded with supplies for the 140-kilometre journey, 57-year-old David James Jackson took off from the tip of Queensland and made it to Papua New Guinean waters but was nabbed on the eastern side of Saibai Island.
The charges date back to 2016, when police found 840g of 85 per cent pure methylamphetamine inside a speaker box in his car. The District Court of WA heard the long-term stimulant user had accepted meth as part payment for his work as a tow truck driver and when his boss went into custody, he took over the drug dealing business to maintain his own supply.
Jackson planned to go to trial but entered late guilty pleas, then fled the country while out on bail and awaiting sentencing. He intended starting a new life in Bali but had no plan for when he got there and didn’t have much money.
He will be sentenced in Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday for two counts of breaching bail and one each of possessing a prohibited weapon and possessing stolen property. After serving his term, he likely faces deportation to the UK, which he left at age five.
