Man from Dunfermline caught with £1.1m of cannabis in his car on M6 north of Preston was being paid £2k

Police who pulled over a motorist on the M6 in Lancashire were stunned to discover more than £1m of cannabis in the boot of his car, a court heard.

Driver Leonard Simpson admitted he had been paid £2,000 to deliver the drugs to Scotland in what he claimed was a “one-off” trip as a courier because he was hard-up.

Jailing the 35-year-old at Preston Crown Court, Judge Robert Altham told him his role in the operation had been a significant one and said he must have been aware it was “a substantial enterprise” he was involved in because of the amount of drugs involved.

Judge Altham was told that on January 27 this year police officers intercepted a white BMW car travelling north on the M6 and escorted it off into Forton Services.

When they spoke to Simpson, who was in the vehicle on his own, they detected a strong smell of cannabis. Aked if there were any drugs in the car, the driver confessed straight away, saying “yes, there are four or five shopping bags of cannabis in the back.”

Officers discovered 243 vacuum sealed packs of the drug weighing a total of 109 kilos – or 17 stone. The cannabis had a street value of almost £1.1m.

When interviewed at the police station Simpson said the vehicle was a hire car and he was heading north to Scotland. That was the only information he would provide, he wouldn’t answer any questions about where he had been.

Barrister Richard Flook, for Simpson, asked the judge to give his client full credit for confessing to his crime as soon as he was apprehended by police.

“There was never any denial,” he said. “These were enormous shopping bags full of cannabis.

“He (Simpson) was acting as a courier. He has seen this as a quick way of making money. There is a degree of naivety here.

“He knows he was moving a large volume of cannabis, but he has no wider knowledge than that.”

Mr Flook claimed Simpson had “little awareness” of who was behind the drugs haul. He was just moving it to earn a promised fee of £2,000, which in the end he didn’t receive.

The court heard he had been involved in a serious road collision years earlier and that had “set him off on a downward spiral.” He had suffered from depression and now recognised how much his own cannabis use had affected him.

“He swears he is never going to use it again,” said Mr Flook. “He recognises how serious the offence was and the significant impact cannabis was having on him.”

Judge Altham told Simpson it was an “enormous quantity of cannabis.” He said the father of two had agreed to transport it because he was “short of money.”

Asked by the defence to categorise Simpson’s role in the drugs operation as “minor” – thus reducing any jail term he would have to serve – the judge disagreed.

“In my judgement it was a significant role. He must have been aware that this was a substantial enterprise he was involved in (due to the amount of drugs in the car).”

Judge Altham said he accepted Simpson was remorseful and it was an isolated incident.

But he added that this type of offending with drugs on this scale was so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence was appropriate.

“He must have known he was assisting some organised criminals in some considerable operation,” he said.

Judge Altham sentenced Simpson, of Whirlbut Crescent, Dunfermline, to two years in prison and issued an order for the drugs to be destroyed.