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<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-f2a6d25756aded634f78ba29f0c055b8" style="color:#231919;font-size:14px"><strong>Sophie Bannister, 30 and Levi-April Whalley, 31 have posted a series of provocative images of themselves on OnlyFans</strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-6c3d923f1ec2f66dad9f38e46a75f155" style="color:#231919;font-size:14px"><strong>The pair of drug mules were caught attempting to smuggle $204,000 [£160,000], worth of cannabis into the UK in December 2023</strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-2318224ab6f4ab089b7edf2ca656242d" style="color:#231919;font-size:14px"><strong>15 months later the women were handed suspended sentences <strong>after pleading<strong> to fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of a class B drug</strong></strong> to the UK from the US </strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-0445abc828b8809f80f6a07511d87e67" style="color:#231919;font-size:14px"><strong><strong>Levi-April Whalley was sentenced to 16 months in prison suspended for 18 months, 10 days rehabilitation and 80 hours volunteer work</strong></strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-7abd0a6b45c2b390ca18ac5cc0d4abbc" style="color:#231919;font-size:14px"><strong><strong>Sophia Bannister was sentenced to 20 months suspended for 18 months, 30 days rehabilitation and 200 hours volunteer work </strong></strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-44da6476d9f6238358f454f7e802dc2c" style="color:#231919;font-size:14px"><strong>It&#8217;s been revealed that they have been regularly posting on OnlyFans, for the money</strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Levi-April-Whalley-and-Sophie-Bannister-3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-477499" style="width:840px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Levi-April Whalley, [left], and Sophie Bannister, [right], both glamour models who post provocative images of themselves on OnlyFans, recently received suspended sentence after pleading<strong> to fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of a class B drug </strong> </strong></p>



<p>Two drug mules caught attempting to smuggle huge quantities of cannabis into the UK it has been revealed, are also OnlyFans models.<br>On December 9, 2023, two women from Blackburn told UK Border Force officials at Birmingham Airport they had been on a three-day shopping trip to New York, and even when officers found more than 70 heat-sealed packages inside, one of the pair identified as Levi-April Whalley insisted the packages contained watches. <br>Instead, the agents found more than $204,241 [£160,000], worth of the drugs inside, and Bannister later pled guilty to the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition, ending up with suspended sentences.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Levi-April-Whalley-and-Sophie-Bannister-4.png" alt="" class="wp-image-477513"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Levi-April Whalley sentenced 16 months in prison suspended for 18 months, 10 days rehabilitation and 80 hours volunteer work. Sophia Bannister was sentenced to 20 months suspended for 18 months, 30 days rehabilitation and 200 hours volunteer work <strong>for attempting to smuggle cannabis into UK </strong></strong></p>



<p>It has just been revealed that the recently convicted pair of Sophie Bannister, 30, and Levi-April Whalley, 31, have posted a series of provocative images of themselves in an attempt to earn money from the online platform which has more than 200 million users around the world.<br>15 months after the arrest, the two women from the midlands have been convicted for bringing the drugs back to the UK from the US, and last week were handed suspended light sentences. <br>However, prior to their legal woes the two women were making money by posting on OnlyFans. <br>&#8216;I&#8217;ve not been posting on it recently because I&#8217;ve been busy with other things. Levi and I did it for a laugh and to help make ends meet,&#8217; Bannister admitted.<br>One photo shows the two women wearing cowboy hats with their naked rear ends exposed.<br>Bannister said: &#8216;Yes, that&#8217;s me and Levi&#8230;It was just a bit of fun,&#8217; presenting a sharp contrast to the scenario of the pair breaking down in tears last week, when they were each handed an 18-month suspended sentence by the Preston Crown Court.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Levi-April-Whalley-and-Sophie-Bannister-2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-477489" style="width:838px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Convicted drug mules Sophie Bannister and Levi-April Whalley have posted a series of provocative pictures of themselves in an attempt to earn money from OnlyFans including this image of the two women wearing cowboy hats with their naked rear ends exposed </strong></p>



<p>Whalley and Bannister both pled guilty to fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of a class B drug and on April 2, Judge Richard Archer sitting at Preston Crown Court handed Whalley a 16-month sentence suspended for 18 months, with 10 days rehabilitation and 80 hours of unpaid work.<br>Her co-defendant Sophia Bannister was sentenced to 20 months suspended for 18 months with 30 days rehabilitation activities and 200 hours of unpaid work.<br>Whalley who has since had a baby now faces being struck off the national register of British nurses. <br>Despite the lenient sentences that saw the convicted pair leaving court free of shackles, the pair said that while it might appear they escaped &#8216;scot-free&#8217;, their lives had been &#8216;ruined.&#8217; They blame their downfall on being &#8216;groomed&#8217; by international criminals. <br>Former nurse Levi-April Whalley and preppy boarding school educated Sophia Bannister, have maintained they agreed to transport the cases in the belief that luggage contained watches. However on their admission, the &#8216;panic&#8217; about what they might really be transporting set in on the flight home, at which point they had gotten &#8216;far too deep to turn around&#8217;.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Levi-April-Whalley-on-OnlyFans-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-477487" style="width:840px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>In the quest for earnings, the glamour pair serially post revealing images of themselves, such as this photo Whalley posted online</strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sophie-Bannister-on-OnlyFans-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-477488" style="width:840px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Glamour model Sophia Bannister said &#8216;I&#8217;ve not been posting on it recently because I&#8217;ve been busy with other things&#8217;</strong></p>



<p>The pair were arrested on arrival at Birmingham International Airport when the incriminating packages were found in their luggage following a three-day visit to New York in 2023, on a pre-Christmas shopping trip. The pair have not been in trouble since, the judge was told before sentencing.<br>The &#8216;true friends&#8217;, both originally from Blackburn in Lancashire, sobbed and held hands in the dock as a judge imposed suspended prison sentences after being told<br>The pair who have nearly 60,000 followers on Instagram, chronicled their carefree lifestyle online, and until their arrest regularly posted about enjoying beach holidays around the world.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sophie-Bannister-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-477490" style="width:840px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Sophie Bannister&#8217;s luggage search uncovered <strong>16.5kg of cannabis </strong>in 34 heat sealed packages with an estimated street value of $51,060 [£40,500]. Following her conviction she was handed an 18 month suspended sentence by th<strong>e Preston Crown Court this week.</strong></strong></p>



<p>For their defense, the mules alleged that in the lead up to the drug run, a woman whom Bannister had met in Marbella, Spain, contacted her over Instagram offering them $2,553 [£2,000], each, to bring what they thought were watches and jewellery back from New York.<br>According to Whalley the offer was &#8216;you can go on holiday for free and go shopping, and then at the end of it you brought some suitcases back, but you didn&#8217;t have to think about it until the day that you actually came back&#8217;.<br>&#8216;It&#8217;s something I&#8217;ve always wanted, to go to New York, since I was a little girl. I thought &#8216;Oh, let&#8217;s do it&#8217;, but not thinking about the actual consequences.&#8217;<br>As a result, they &#8216;very stupidly&#8217; agreed.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Drugs-recovered-from-Sophie-Bannister-and-Levi-April-Whalley-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-477492" style="width:840px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>I was &#8216;absolutely heartbroken and gobsmacked,&#8217; said <strong>Bannister about the outcome, insisting<strong> she had no idea of the contents of the suitcase she was transporting</strong></strong></strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Drugs-recovered-from-Sophie-Bannister-and-Levi-April-Whalley-2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-477503" style="width:840px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Drugs recovered from 34 sealed packages of cannabis from Sophie Bannister&#8217;s luggage and a further 39 packages from Levi-April Whalley luggage</strong></p>



<p>Adding more details, Whalley said they were told to &#8216;go and enjoy your holiday&#8217; and that at the end of it they would have to bring the watches back with them.<br>However, after being handed her case and checking onto their flight to Birmingham via Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport on December 9, 2023, Bannister said they felt &#8216;a bit anxious&#8217;.<br>&#8216;I wasn&#8217;t 100 per cent what was in it to be honest,&#8217; she said.<br>&#8216;I just started to get a bit panicky.&#8217;<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14569051/lavish-lives-glam-drug-smugglers-cannabis-luggage.html"></a><br>&#8216;We had an absolutely amazing time in New York.<br>&#8216;Then on the last day when we had to get these cases back it was like, &#8216;S***, what are we actually doing?&#8217;<br>&#8216;But we felt like we were already in far too deep to turn around at that point.&#8217;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sophie-Bannister-4.png" alt="" class="wp-image-477491" style="width:840px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Sophie Bannister [in New York during the fateful trip], and Levi-April Whalley, both from Blackburn, were snared with 35kg of the Class B drug in their luggage, re-entering UK</strong></p>



<p>They were stopped by Customs officers after picking up the locked cases – for which they didn&#8217;t have keys &#8211; from the carousel at Birmingham airport.<br>&#8216;He asked us if we&#8217;d packed our cases ourselves,&#8217; said Bannister.<br>&#8216;Levi said &#8216;Yes&#8217; at first, but when he asked us to open it, we said &#8216;No.&#8217;<br>&#8216;And then when he opened it, we found what was inside.&#8217;<br>Bannister&#8217;s case was packed with 34 heat sealed packages containing 16.5kg of cannabis with an estimated street value of £40,500, Preston Crown Court heard this week.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Levi-April-Whalley-6.png" alt="" class="wp-image-477520" style="width:840px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Whalley said it was only at the end of the break when they collected the suitcases that &#8216;reality hit,&#8217; however they felt they had no choice but to smuggle the cases due to being &#8216;threatened&#8217;</strong></p>



<p>A further 39 packages containing 19kg of cannabis was found in Whalley&#8217;s suitcase worth an estimated $155,095 [£121,500]. Continuing to insist she had no idea of the contents, Bannister claims she was &#8216;absolutely heartbroken and gobsmacked&#8217;.<br>&#8216;We thought that&#8217;s it, our lives are over. &#8216;<br>The friends spent more than 24 hours in police custody, during which time Bannister said she was hospitalized due to a severe panic attack, before they were released on bail.<br>After sentencing Bannister posted a message: &#8216;Finally some closure and moving forward with our life. Ready for the biggest fresh start and realizing how important freedom really is.&#8217;<br>The women insist they were &#8216;groomed&#8217; as a result of their social media profiles. The defense argue they were vulnerable to exploitation due to coming out of difficult relationships and in Bannister&#8217;s case, debt as well.<br>Whalley in her testimony said that at the time she had wanted to &#8216;escape myself&#8217;.<br>&#8216;I thought &#8216;Yeah, why not&#8217;, not really thinking much about the consequences.&#8217;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Levi-April-Whalley-3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-477493" style="width:838px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Former nurse Whalley and Bannister claim they were &#8216;groomed&#8217; as a result of their social media profiles. B<strong>oth</strong> insist they thought the cases contained watches</strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/04/08/18/96891907-14584647-Sophie_Bannister_pictured_and_Levi_April_Whalley_both_30_from_Bl-a-27_1744131995992.jpg" alt="Sophie Bannister (pictured) and Levi-April Whalley, both 30 from Blackburn, told border officials they had been on a three-day shopping spree in the Big Apple" style="width:833px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Sophie Bannister [photo], and Levi-April Whalley, from Blackburn, told border officials they had been on a three-day shopping spree in New York. The sponsors the all expenses paid vacation, coerced them into transporting the suitcases without disclosing the contents </strong></p>



<p>Whalley believes traffickers target women like her on social media leading a &#8216;certain lifestyle&#8217;, sucking them in with the offer of a &#8216;free holiday&#8217;.<br>&#8216;They approach the type of vulnerable people because even though they might have so many followers on Instagram they&#8217;re not as confident as they may seem.<br>&#8216;They&#8217;ve obviously seen that we were traveling a lot.&#8217;<br>She insists that her reaction to the offer today as a mother-of-one would have been &#8216;absolutely not&#8217;.<br>&#8216;So, it just it proves that that we had some vulnerability, that we took that risk and opportunity.&#8217;<br>Whalley, a qualified adult nurse is currently under an interim suspension. She lost her job after informing her employer of her arrest. She now faces being struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.<br>Meanwhile, the new mom currently juggles running a beauty business with being a single mother.<br>Bannister, who attended $19,150 [£15,000], per year Kirkham Grammar School, was running a clothing brand in Dubai. She is now living with friends in Manchester following her arrest.<br>&#8216;It&#8217;s caused a lot of upset and hurt,&#8217; she said.<br>&#8216;My family all fell out with me. It&#8217;s not been easy.&#8217;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Levi-April-Whalley-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-477495" style="width:835px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Nurse Levi-April Whalley [photo], believes traffickers target women like her on social media leading a &#8216;certain lifestyle&#8217;, sucking them in with the offer of a &#8216;free holiday&#8217;. She now faces being struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council </strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Levi-April-Whalley-2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-477494" style="width:840px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>Levi-April Whalley, seen [photo], on a beach in Thailand in one of her social media snaps, along with her &#8216;best friend&#8217; Bannister, chronicled their charmed life trotting around the globe </strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Levi-April-Whalley-and-Sophie-Bannister-6.png" alt="" class="wp-image-477521" style="width:811px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>&#8216;We&#8217;re being treated as if we&#8217;ve murdered someone,&#8217; moan the pair who have been inundated with &#8216;harsh&#8217; messages on social media about their crimes since their sentencing </strong></p>



<p>The pair who have been flooded by a sea of &#8216;harsh&#8217; messages about their crimes since their sentencing complain that: &#8216;We&#8217;re being treated as if we&#8217;ve murdered someone,&#8217; Whalley revealed.<br>The new mom whose mother died last week said &#8216;It&#8217;s disgusting, I&#8217;ve got a baby here and I&#8217;m being trolled.<br>&#8216;What I really don&#8217;t like is people saying I&#8217;ve had a baby to avoid me going to jail. That simply wasn&#8217;t the case.<br>&#8216;I&#8217;m ashamed for my family, I&#8217;ve got to live with that for the rest of my life,&#8217; she noted.<br>&#8216;But the things that people are saying, that doesn&#8217;t go away either. We&#8217;ve made a mistake and we&#8217;re really sorry for that.<br>&#8216;And you&#8217;re paying for it, not just in the terms of the suspended sentence.<br>&#8216;Everything is different now and I do I look back and I think I wish I didn&#8217;t do that.<br>&#8216;At the end of the day we chose that path and we&#8217;ve got to pay the price.&#8217;<br>&#8216;We&#8217;ve both said we&#8217;re ashamed,&#8217; said Bannister adding, &#8216;I wish we&#8217;d made better decisions, to be honest.&#8217;</p>



<p></p>

Pair of glamorous drug mules caught trying to smuggle $204K worth of cannabis into UK, turn to OnlyFans to make cash after avoiding jail on suspended sentences
