Drug courier pair jailed for bringing haul to Tyneside

COURT TOLD MEN WERE DELIVERING COCAINE FOR GANGSTERS

John Ianson COCAINE couriers were caught ferrying up to £100,000 of the drug into the North East when they were pulled over on the A1.

John Ianson and Thomas Scott were delivering around two kilos of the class A drug from gangsters in Liverpool to be distributed on Tyneside.

A court heard they were pulled over while heading north on the A1 near Blaydon bridge last October and two packages estimated to be a kilo each were seized, along with £1,000 cash.

As the pair were jailed, Newcastle Crown Court heard Ianson was transporting the drugs to pay off a debt to “unscrupulous Liverpool individuals”.

His barrister said there was a “particular crisis playing out” in the city, with shootings, petrol bombings and family members being targeted over drug debts and grudges.

Jailing Ianson and Scott for five years and three months each, Recorder Richard Thyne said: “It’s plain you were couriers who have taken a calculated risk for gain and were not merely exploited drugs mules.

“Drugs couriers play vitally important roles within the chain of drugs supply.

“Without the availability of willing couriers, it would not be possible for hugely harmful drugs to be transported in bulk around the country.”

It was around 7.15pm on October 17 that police pulled over a black Ford Kuga on the A1 “as a result of information”. Ianson was driving and Scott was in the passenger seat.

When the car was searched, the cocaine and cash was recovered.

The court heard police did not measure the purity of the drugs and so the pair were sentenced on the basis they were of low purity.

Once bulked out and made into smaller deals, the value could have been between £45,000 and £105,000, prosecutors said.

Ianson has 40 previous convictions, including for two robberies and a wounding with intent, for which he has previously been given sentences totalling 23 years.

Scott has no previous in the country but was convicted of robbery, burglary and carrying weapons in Western Australia.

Ianson, 54, of Croyde Road, Speke, Liverpool, and Scott, 40, of no fixed address, both admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply and possessing criminal property.

Julian Nutter, for Ianson, said he has a history of heroin addiction and suffers a number of health problems as a result.

Mr Nutter told the court: “This mess he got himself into arises from debts he got in to with unscrupulous Liverpool individuals who are probably, given his arrest, connected with the drugs business.

“There’s a particular crisis playing out in Liverpool.

“People are being petrol-bombed, people are having shots taken at their legs, their children and mothers are being attacked, over what are perceived to be drugs debts and grudges in the criminal community.

“He was presented with a frightening ultimatum and in carrying out that ultimatum he carried out this offence.

“He is an old man now, old beyond his years.

“He asks me to apologise to the court. “He has to get out of Liverpool on release and start afresh.”

Tony Cornberg, for Scott, said the scaffolder was doing well in prison and was in a trusted position.

He added: “He said he would go along and help his friend get out of significant debt.

“His parents didn’t speak to him for a month, they are not impressed by his behaviour.”

Mr Cornberg said Scott is on medication for anxiety after seeing someone have their throat cut in prison.