Rotherham drug courier caught with cocaine - and his daughter - in car on delivery run from Liverpool

James Liversedge (34) had gone to Merseyside after being ordered to clear off his cocaine debt by delivering money there and took his friend, 29-year-old Andrew Dunstan, who had “nothing better to do” along for the ride.

When he dropped the money off, Liversedge, of Rawmarsh Hill, Parkgate, was told to take almost a kilogram of cocaine back and while returning home they were stopped by police on the M62

Liverpool Crown Court heard a package of white powder was recovered from the vehicle driven by Liversedge when he was stopped on July 9 this year.

Ms Nardeen Nemat, prosecuting, said that at around 7.50pm that evening, police officers had been on patrol on the M62 near to Junction 7 in St Helens.

She added: They received some information that a Ford Fiesta which had been linked to the theft of motor vehicles in Rotherham had had an ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) hit in the Merseyside area.”

The patrol then spotted the car heading eastbound and followed it before halting it near Junction 11.

The vehicle was searched and a 982.72g package of cocaine of 82 per cent purity, valued between £34,000 and £40,000, was recovered.

Both defendants admitted possession with intent to supply cocaine.

Liversedge, who had his daughter with him in the car, said he had begun to use cocaine after a family tragedy in December 2020 and, by July, was just over £1,000 in debt which could not afford to pay off.

He admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply on the basis that as he had been unable to pay off his debt, he had agreed to take some money from Rotherham to Liverpool on behalf of his dealer.

Liversedge said that after dropping off the money, he had been told to take a package in the other direction.

He said he had not expected this but agreed “because I did not think I had a choice”, the court heard.

Dunstan said he had agreed to go on the trip with Liversedge and accepted he knew there was a package he believed to contain cocaine in the vehicle on their return.

Both said they did not know the weight or purity of the cocaine.

Mr Philip Tully, mitigating, said: “This is a sad case of someone struggling with an addiction to cocaine and they had run up a debt and felt pressured into trying to reduce that debt by taking money to a dealer in a different part of the country. 

“His intention, what he actually agreed to do, was deliver cash to an address in Liverpool.

“That is why he had his daughter in the car. If he had thought he was taking drugs, he would not have done so.

“He is a family man, he is a father, he is a man capable of living a good and constructive life.”

Ms Brigid Baillie, mitigating for Dunstan, said:  “He received a call from Mr Liversedge to accompany him.

“He wasn’t working, it was during lockdown, he had nothing better to do essentially and he went along with that, stupidly.

“He had been using drugs, he thought it would keep him awake going on a trip with Mr Liversedge.

“He understood that Mr Liversedge was going to pay off a debt - he didn't ask questions about it and he did become aware that Mr Liversedge had picked up a package and he believed that package contained drugs of some description.”

Ms Baillie said that Dunstan had played a “particularly minor” role in the incident.

Dunstan, of Wootton Court, Thrybergh, also admitted admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

Jailing both men for three years and three months, Judge Denis Watson QC, said: “The long and short of it is you travelled from Yorkshire delivering money and you collected a kilo of cocaine.”

He told Liversedge: “You had the more significant involvement. It was your addiction, your debt and your decision to go.”

He said that Dunstan had played a lesser role but pointed out that he had more previous convictions.