Ellie Crampsie, an influencer with thousands of online followers, has been released from prison after serving only 16 weeks of a 16-month sentence for drug smuggling. She was apprehended last year with approximately £150,000 worth of cannabis concealed in a suitcase while returning from a holiday in Thailand.
Crampsie's early release is attributed to an amendment to Scotland's Home Detention Curfew (HDC) scheme, passed in October. The change allows short-term prisoners to become eligible for release after serving 15% of their sentence, a reduction from the previous requirement of a quarter of the sentence. For Crampsie, this meant becoming eligible for release after less than two and a half months. The maximum curfew period under the amended scheme was also extended from 180 days to 210 days.
Despite being on a nightly curfew, Crampsie recently posted images on social media from a music festival. These posts marked her return to public social media activity, with her Instagram account showing its first posts since her sentencing in April.
Stephen Kerr, the Scottish Conservative justice spokesman, criticized the early release, labeling it a "shocking example of the SNP’s soft-touch justice system in action." He expressed outrage that a convicted drug dealer could be free after serving a fraction of her sentence, attributing it to "the nationalists' relentless weakening of the justice system."
Crampsie was sentenced on April 24 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court after pleading guilty in March to being concerned in the supply of a controlled drug. Sheriff Graeme Watson imposed the 16-month sentence, acknowledging that Crampsie had been "naive and potentially taken advantage of." He noted that her role involved carrying the drugs in luggage provided by her former partner, who she knew to be involved in drug activity, and accepted there was a power imbalance in their relationship. The sheriff described her actions as "reckless."
She was stopped by Border Force officers at Edinburgh Airport on April 16 of the previous year, arriving on an Air France flight from Thailand via Paris. The seized cannabis was found in vacuum-sealed packages.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Prison Service stated that individuals are released on Home Detention Curfew only after a "careful and considered assessment of risk," with appropriate monitoring and restrictions in place. The Scottish Government added that eligible prisoners undergo a "robust risk assessment" and are subject to licence conditions and a nightly curfew. Failure to comply with these conditions can result in recall to prison to serve the remainder of the sentence.