Ex-Arsenal star sentenced last month for part in £600k drug smuggling plot signs for new team

Disgraced former Arsenal footballer Jay Emmanuel-Thomas is back in the game, just one month after being jailed for four years. The 34-year-old was sentenced in June for his part in a £600,000 drug smuggling plot in what was described as a “catastrophic error of judgement”.

Emmanuel-Thomas was sacked by Scottish Championship side Greenock Morton after his arrest in September last year. The former Arsenal academy product initially denied the charges but changed his plea to guilty at a hearing on May 7 at Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex.

After being found guilty, he was handed a four-year prison sentence, but subsequently released on parole having served 10 months of his sentence at HMP Chelmsford.

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National League South side AFC Totton have now confirmed his signature ahead of the new season with a brief statement reading: "We are absolutely delighted to welcome Jay Emmanuel-Thomas to the club. Jay joins us with a wealth of experience in the Championship and we’re sure his goals will lead to a successful season here on the South Coast!"

Emmanuel-Thomas was arrested after officers from the National Crime Agency seized an estimated £600,000 of cannabis as it was being brought through Stansted Airport by two women he had recruited – his girlfriend and her friend.

Prosecutor David Josse KC told Chelmsford Crown Court the “interception” of the two women – Emmanuel-Thomas’s girlfriend Yasmin Piotrowska and her friend Rosie Rowland – happened at the airport.

He said it “became apparent this defendant, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, had been involved in their recruitment to travel to Thailand”.

Before handing down the sentence, Judge Alexander Mills said: "It is through your own actions you will no longer be known as a professional footballer. You will be known as a criminal. A professional footballer who threw it all away."

The footballer, whose former clubs include Ipswich, Bristol City, QPR, Livingston, Aberdeen and Thai side PTT Rayong, was sentenced at the start of June.

Alex Rose, for Emmanuel-Thomas, said: “The financial gain in this case for Mr Emmanuel-Thomas was £5,000.”

Mr Rose said the defendant was a father-of-two and had made a “catastrophic error of judgment”. He said a “period of being out of contract led to very significant financial hard times” and he “succumbed to temptation”.

In a letter read out in court before his sentencing, Emmanuel Thomas wrote: "This past year has been the most harmful and eye-opening of my life. At times it has been unbearable."

He added that he "never imagined" he could be in this situation, and he "completely regrets but takes full responsibility for" his actions.