Lorry driver Peter Horton stopped at Dover's Eastern Docks with £2.5m of drugs hidden in frozen spinach
Dover's Eastern Docks,
where Horton was stopped
by Paul Hooper
A lorry driver hid more than £2.5 m worth of drugs underneath a
consignment of frozen spinach bound for Ashford.
Peter Horton, a 44-year-old father of three, was stopped at
Dover’s Eastern Docks in June last year driving a lorry and
trailer.
He told customs officers he had been to Belgium and was heading
for Ashford to deliver frozen vegetables – but when officials
searched the load they found quantities of heroin and cocaine.
Prosecutor Denzil Pugh told Canterbury Crown Court that the
Class A drugs had a street value in excess of £2.5m.
Horton, who lives near York, admitted he had been offered £2,000
to bring in the illicit load, which he claimed he thought were
cigarettes.
But the judge Recorder Colin Reese QC rejected his claim and
jailed him for 14 years, telling him: “You knew what you were doing
in bringing in a significant quantity of drugs into the UK.”
Horton, who looked stunned at the long sentence, had admitted
charges of drug smuggling.
15/01/13
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