Hartlepool man picked up 4kg of high pure cocaine from Merseyside in handover at Wetherby services

Christopher Graham, 28, collected 4kg of high purity cocaine after travelling from the North East to Wetherby services in November 2019.

A trial at Teesside Crown Court heard that Graham, of Everett Street, Hartlepool, retrieved the drugs from an Audi containing 23-year-old Sean Huggins from the Wirral.

Graham’s driver on the day has admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine which had come from a relative of Huggins who has also pleaded guilty as part of the wider drugs conspiracy.

Graham claimed he did not know where he was going that day and the driver asked him to jump out and get a bag from the Audi.

Judge Howard Crowson said: "That carrier bag contained another carrier bag and inside both [was] four kilograms of cocaine.”

Huggins’ fingerprints were found on the bags. He and Graham both maintained they did not know what was in it.

Later that afternoon, the Jetta was stopped on A19 northbound by police and the cocaine was seized.

The prosecution pointed to text messages between Graham and other people involved in the drugs conspiracy in which he asked for ‘graft’ which the Crown said referred to the drugs operation.

He claimed it meant legitimate building or gardening work.

On Monday afternoon, the jury unanimously convicted Graham of possessing a controlled drug of Class A with intent to supply.

Huggins, of Hillary Road, Eastham Wirral, was found guilty of supplying a controlled drug of Class A to another.

They will be sentenced, together with a number of others involved, at a later date.