Two cocaine peddlers targeted “pay day at Sellafield” as they plotted to drum up business.

Carlisle Crown Court heard how Chad Jamieson, 24, and 23-year-old Jordan Anthony Thomas Malkinson planned to spend ill-gotten gains on “partying, clothes and holidays”.

Prosecutor Claire Brocklebank told a judge how the pair’s criminal plot began to unravel after police stopped a car in Whitehaven on June 3 last year.

Front seat passenger Malkinson was searched after being seen trying to hide something. A snap-bag containing cocaine, weighing scales and cash were seized, along with a mobile phone.

The device provided a crucial link to Jamieson.

“This revealed WhatsApp conversations during the course of which the defendants discussed and organised purchasing and delivering cocaine, the collection of debts and sharing the profits,” said Miss Brocklebank.

Messages indicated significant cocaine supply “on an almost daily basis”.

Jamieson was arrested in October after calling police himself, asking for “help” and “saying he was being chased”.

He was found to have £8,000 worth of cocaine stashed in different locations.

Miss Brocklebank said it appeared the pair “hoped to make £2,000 each”. “They seem to be planning to use the money for partying, clothes and holiday,” she said, speaking of one reference to “Amsterdam”.

In terms of sourcing cocaine, Miss Brocklebank said: “They discussed together how much they should get.”

She added: “They discuss ‘it’s pay day at Sellafield’ - they hope to supply a lot that weekend.”

Jamieson, of Nethertown Road, St Bees, and Malkinson, of The Larches, Egremont, each admitted conspiracy to supply the class A drug. They were due to have been sentenced yesterday. But after hearing that Jamieson disputed some of the prosecution’s case, Judge Peter Davies adjourned the case. The case will next be heard on November 26.