Oswestry drug dealer who hid cocaine and heroin in Kinder Eggs given more jail time

Alan McNeill was the passenger in a Vauxhall Corsa stopped by police just outside Oswestry.

When officers searched the car they found 79 wraps of cocaine, nine wraps of heroin and one wrap of mixed white and brown powder.

The drugs were concealed inside Kinder Eggs, Shrewsbury Crown Court was told.

The eggs were found in the underskirt around the gear-stick of the car, when it was stopped on January 30 2015, just after midnight.

The court heard that each of the wraps would have had a street value of £10, with a total value of £890.

Prosecuting, Miss Maria Masselis, said that a knife was also recovered from the car, hidden in an almost identical location to the drugs.

The driver of the car, James Spotswood, was also found to be carrying £235.

McNeill, 28, of Dundonald Street, Birkenhead, had his mobile phone seized, where police found messages relating to the supply of drugs.

Miss Masselis explained that McNeill had a number of prior convictions, including one in 2011 for being concerned in the production of cannabis and one in 2012 for possession with intent to supply the same drug.

McNeill admitted the charges at a preliminary hearing for the case, while co-defendant Spotswood, the driver of the vehicle, pleaded not guilty, facing trial at Shrewsbury Crown Court earlier this year.

He said he had been under duress from McNeill to take part in the activity.

But a jury found him guilty on October 29 and as he was remanded in custody, he escaped the court and was not found for hours later.

At the same court, Spotswood, 28, of River Grove, New Ferry, Wirral, admitted to one charge of escape from lawful custody, but his sentencing for that and his two counts of being in possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply and being in possession of a knife in a public place were put back until January 6.

However Recorder Martin Jackson decided to proceed with the sentencing of McNeill for his part in the offence, giving him credit for his early guilty plea made on January 21.

In March McNeill had been jailed at Mold Crown Court for robbery and theft of the Greatorex Store at Llanrhaeadr ym Mochant, near Oswestry one evening last April, where he threatened the assistant with an imitation gun.

He was jailed for four years and three months at that court after he admitted the charges and appeared in custody in Shrewsbury.

He was jailed for a further 40 months, which will run consecutively to his existing jail term.

He was also required to pay a victim surcharge.