Adam Chapman, 39, of Hardy Close in Bootle, has been jailed for 10 years after admitting possession with intent to supply cocaine. He was stopped by police on the M62 and found with 116kg of the class A drug.
Police stop on the M62
Chapman's courier operation was discovered on September 8 last year, when police officers pulled him over on the westbound lane of the M62, near junction 7 (Rainhill & Bold). Prosecutor Matthew Dixon, at Liverpool Crown Court today, October 23, said: "An initial search of the vehicle was carried out. Due to the presence of a large quantity of suspected class A drugs and a digital vehicle tracker, the van was moved to a secure location."
A further search was carried out at the Merseyside Police Operational Command Centre the following day. Inside was a large number of Font Vella water bottles, which had been emptied and refilled with packages of white powder. A total of 116kg of high-purity cocaine with a wholesale value between £2.7m and £3.4m, and a street value between £4.6m and £8.1m, was recovered.
Debt motive and guilty plea
Mr Dixon said: "The defendant puts forward a version of events that his was a one-off expedition with a view to £20,000 debts being wiped as a result of his efforts." Chapman pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cocaine.
Peter Killen, defending, said: "The defendant is remorseful. He has an insight into the true scale of what he was taking part in. A submission that I hope finds favour is that the best thing that anyone can do to demonstrate remorse is to admit it as soon as they can, and it's all the more forceful where the impact of admitting it is going to be severe."
He added: "When Your Honour reads the character references, they speak of an entirely different person. It's obvious why this man, having gone way off his morality radar, when confronted by this arrest with what he has done, he has the ability to recognise how wrong that was, the damage it causes, and have a strong desire for it never ever to happen again."
Judge's sentencing remarks
Sentencing, Judge David Swinnerton said: "The amount was 116kg of cocaine, and that's a vast amount worth millions, even at the cheapest wholesale price. What on earth led you into this? The answer appears to be gambling and drug abuse."
He told Chapman: "You expected a significant financial advantage. £20k worth of debt being wiped out, and you must have had some awareness of the scale of the operations, because no one trusts that much drugs with that much value to just anybody. £20k debt doesn't get wiped out just from carrying a few grams. You knew there was a lot, and you knew the risks you were taking."
He added: "There's much good to be said about you as evidence by your genuine remorse and the genuine support of the people around you. But the sheer quantity means that the sentence is going to be relatively high." He sentenced Chapman to 10 years in prison.
