Bus driver turned drug courier caught in Nottinghamshire

Kole Lleshi was travelling north on the A1 in a black Kia Sedona when he was stopped between junctions 34 and 35, outside Newark, Nottinghamshire, on September 16, 2019, prosecutor Nick Adlington told Sheffield Crown Court.

A cellophane-covered block of the 74 per cent purity drug was found in a plastic carrier bag and estimated to be worth £40,000 to £100,000 depending on how it was cut.

The court heard he was a "one-off expendable" courier who was paid £150 to ferry the drug from London to Harrogate.

Andrew Stranex, mitigating, said the Czech citizen, who has no previous convictions, came to the UK in 2004 and worked most recently as a bus driver.

He said Lleshi, who has settled status, never depended on benefits and provides for his wife and four daughters, the youngest of whom is aged one.

"The offence was totally out of character," Mr Stranex said. He was taken advantage of because of his lack of history. He would not attract attention because he was not known to the police."

He added that "difficulties with representation" led to a trial being arranged and he asked for more than the usual credit for a last minute plea.

Lleshi, 51, of Hargrove Road, Harrogate, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cocaine on the basis that he was a courier on one occasion and not involved in street sales, on February 11.

Judge David Dixon sentenced him to 40 months jail.