Photo/ Caught at Airport with 38 Packages of Cannabis, but “Instagram Nurse” Keeps Professional Licence After Conviction

Levi Whalley, a British nurse and Instagram influencer, will be allowed to keep her professional licence despite being convicted of attempting to smuggle 32 kilograms of cannabis, worth around £160,000, into the United Kingdom.

The 32-year-old from Blackburn was stopped at Birmingham Airport in December 2023. She was travelling with her friend, Sophie Bannister, when border authorities found the drugs in their luggage, according to The Sun.

Inside Whalley’s suitcase, officers discovered 38 packages of cannabis weighing approximately 19 kilograms. The two women said they were returning from a three-day visit to New York.

Whalley was convicted of drug smuggling in 2025. She received a 16-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, meaning she did not go to jail.

However, a Nursing and Midwifery Council tribunal decided not to remove her from the nursing register. She was given a 12-month suspension after revoking her licence was deemed “disproportionate and overly punitive.”

At the hearing, Whalley said she had been facing serious difficulties in her private life at the time of the incident. She said she initially thought she would be bringing several wristwatches back from the US, but later learned that the suitcase contained drugs. She also claimed that she had been threatened into continuing the journey.

Describing her actions as a “very bad decision,” the nurse expressed remorse. She said she has since become a mother, completed 80 hours of community service and intends to return to nursing.