Bagillt man jailed after police find £10,200 cocaine stash in his car

Feb 4 2010 by Lois York, Flintshire Chronicle

A YOUNG man with no previous convictions has been jailed for four-and-a-half years after a court heard police stopped his car and found £10,200 worth of cocaine inside.

Carl Birch, 22, claimed he was acting as a courier when police found two blocks, one in the glove compartment, the other hidden under the hand brake console of his Vauxhall Astra when he was stopped at 8.30pm on October 6 on the A548 Chester Road, Sealand.

Birch, of River Bank, Bagillt, admitted possessing the Class A drug with intent to supply.

Judge John Rogers QC, sitting at Mold Crown Court, said Birch was bringing a substantial amount of cocaine into North Wales.

“I am quite satisfied that you were bringing it in to sell it on,” the judge told him.

But it mattered not, even if he were a courier. He was still playing a very important part in the drugs chain, he said. The two packages of cocaine, in equal amounts of 128g, were ready for distribution.

Judge Rogers said his good character and frank admissions had been important.

John Philpotts, defending, said Birch had no previous convictions and had been open about his involvement in the pre-sentence report.

Birch had started a plastering course while he was on earlier remand and intended to qualify during his prison sentence.