A cocaine courier was caught on the M6 near Tebay with a criminal cargo potentially worth almost £50,000.
Dean McLellan, 32, was driving northbound on the motorway, on July 3 last year, when his offending came to light. Carlisle Crown Court heard today that his illegal haul weighed in at around half a kilo.
In addition, said prosecutor Gerard Rogerson, it was “very high purity” — in the region of 78 per cent.
The class A cocaine was found by police underneath the driver’s seat of the car McLellan was driving and was wrapped in packaging that was vacuum-sealed.
When McLellan was brought before the city’s magistrates’ court last month, he entered a guilty plea to a charge of possessing cocaine with intent to supply it to others. His case was committed for sentence to the crown court.
However, the scheduled completion of the case today hit a snag. McLellan had not submitted a formal basis for the guilty plea he had entered. His barrister, Brendan Burke, told the court his instructions were now that the defendant’s criminal role had been as a “one-off courier”.
In response, Mr Rogerson said the Crown would be “sceptical” that McLellan had been performing a “limited role under direction”. This was partially due to the cocaine’s high purity.
But also, said Mr Rogerson of the police probe: “They discovered the defendant’s fingerprints on the inner packaging of the drugs.”
Finally, the prosecutor pointed out that McLellan had been sent a written invitation to re-attend at the police station to discuss the matter further.
“That invitation was returned “does not reside at that address”,” said Mr Rogerson.
After hearing submissions, Judge Nicholas Barker adjourned the case for more enquiries to be made and directed that McLellan, now of Greenham Road, Wythenshawe, Manchester, should be interviewed by a probation officer for the preparation of a pre-sentence report.McLellan is due to receive his punishment on May 9, and in the meantime, he was granted bail by Judge Barker.
