A car was stopped on the M5 near Bristol by police after a tip-off and a man was found with a kilo of cocaine. The drugs had a street value of around £100,000 and Philip Lane said he had been paid £500 to transport the drug, a court was told.
The 42-year-old, of Dracaena Avenue in Hayle, Cornwall, pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to supply in March. Judge Martin Picton jailed him for three years. reports Bristol Live.
The judge told him: “There is mitigation in your drug addiction. There was limited benefit to you.” Drugs recovered were ordered to be destroyed. Lane was deprived of his mobile phone.
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Lucy Taylor, prosecuting, told Bristol Crown Court police were tipped off that a Citroen C3 travelling south on the M5 contained Class A drugs. Just after 10pm police pulled over a Citroen C3 being driven by Lane. Miss Taylor said Lane told an officer: “It’s in the back mate.” Police took Lane and his car to Sedgemoor Services and, in the Citroen’s boot, found a rectangular parcel which proved to be 997g of 96 per cent pure cocaine.
Lane conceded he had developed a £200 daily cocaine habit, had bled his parents dry of cash to fund it and had run up a £2,000 – £3,000 drug debut to dealers. He said he was offered £500 to transport drugs and collected them from Manchester.
Miss Taylor told the court: “He said he was in fear. He had to do what he was instructed to do due to debt.”
Barry White, defending, said after being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease his client self-medicated with cannabis and moved on to cocaine and then crack cocaine. Mr White said: “He’s sick of drugs and he’s sick of drug dealers ruining his life.
“He’s the cannon fodder of the drug industry. There is always somebody who is going to step into his shoes. He may well have sufficient nous to break free.”Mr White added that his client had come off drugs in jail and did not want to go back to taking them.
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