£21k of drugs taken into festival
AN Essex man was caught trying to smuggle £21,000 of drugs into Creamfields in Daresbury wrapped in his tent.
Craig Charles Leonard Lott, 24, of Sillett Close, Clacton-on-Sea, stuffed the canvas roll with a staggering 938 ecstasy tablets, 75 bags of ecstasy in its crystalised MDMA form, 69 bags of 79%-purity cocaine, and 156 bags of ketamine.
Jo Maxwell, opening the prosecution at Chester Crown Court on Friday, said the ecstasy and MDMA came to a total value of £12,380, the cocaine conservatively estimated to be worth £2,760, and the ketamine valued at £6,240.
Lott was discovered carrying the stash of drugs as he tried to enter the dance music festival on August 22 this year.
He gave ‘no comment’ answers in interview but later pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs MDMA (ecstasy) and cocaine, and Class B drug ketamine, on the basis that he had been drunk at the time and had been asked to carry them in for someone else in exchange for £400.
Miss Maxwell said the defendant had one previous conviction, for three unrelated driving offences.
She also requested a Proceeds Of Crime Act timetable to be fixed.
Frances Wilmott, defending, said her client only stood to earn about £400 from taking the haul of drugs in for someone else.
She added that he had pleaded guilty, was young, has ‘very limited previous convictions’, has never served a prison sentence and will have a job waiting for him when he re-enters society.
He has also struggled with education, having had a ‘difficult upbringing’, but is now seeking support to develop his ability in English and maths.
Judge Patrick Thompson, presiding, passed an overall sentence of four years in prison.
Sending down Lott, he said: “You travelled to the Creamfields music festival on August 22.
“I noticed from the presentence report that you said you were drunk when you went in.
“You agreed to carry these drugs in.
“You’ve entered a basis of plea and I sentence you due to your basis.
“What’s clear for anyone who has knowledge of this particular music festival, and the judges have seen it, there’s sign after sign, notice after notice, that one has to pass, warning people if they have drugs they need to surrender them, warning them that will be searched and prosecuted.
“And you were caught with a very significant amount of drugs: MDMA, £12,000; cocaine almost just short of £3,000; and ketamine over £6,000, and it’s clear to me that somebody is going to benefit enormously from supplying these drugs.”
He added: “Drug supply at this particular festival is the bane of Cheshire.
“Cheshire police have to allocate enormous resources to detecting drug supply to these festivals, and the Cheshire taxpayer has to pay.
“I’m afraid young people like you don’t seem to get the message.
“Even with the tickets, flyers come warning of the sentence they can expect to get.
“People are going to have to start listening because it’s very depressing for the judges: more and more young people coming the court and receiving custodial sentences.”
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