A TEENAGER who was caught near Carlisle with heroin worth almost £1,300 said he agreed to transport it because he was being threatened.
Kaya Emile Preston, 18, who pleaded guilty to possessing the heroin with intent to supply, was caught as he and a friend were driving past Junction 42 f the M6 just south of Carlisle, the city’s crown court was told.
His plea was entered on the basis that he was acting as a court, and while being threatened over a cannabis debt.
The court heard how on July 2 Preston and his friend were driving northwards on the M6, with the defendant’s friend at the wheel of a Vauxhall Tigra.
The car was being driven faster than the speed limit so the police officers activated their blue lights and siren and made the driver pull over. The pair told police they were on their way to Scotland but Preston’s story and that of his friend differed in important details.
The friend said that he was going to collect his mother. Preston said the trip was to collect a friend. There was also confusion also over their exact destination.
Their suspicions aroused, the police officers searched the defendants and their car. Inside Preston’s pocket was a package containing 16 wraps containing brown powder. This was later confirmed to be heroin.
In total, there was 1.75g of the drug, with a street value of £1,280.
In his police interview, Preston said he was unemployed and smoked cannabis on a daily basis. He had run up a debt of £400 with his dealer.
To erase that debt, the teenager was asked to take ‘something’ to Scotland. He did not ask what the substance was.
Preston was told to take the drugs package to Carlisle.
The teenager claimed he thought the powder was a form of cannabis. After delivering it, he planned to return to Merseyside where he lives. He was with the other young man because he was an ‘amusing’ friend, he said.
Brendan Burke, for Preston, of Orlando Close, Prenton, Wirral, said a background Probation Service report identified that the defendant was emotionally vulnerable and immature.
“It was simply a matter of the dealer avoiding the risk and putting himself in harm’s way,” said the barrister. “We are dealing with a very young man who was under some pressure and in the estimation of the Probation Service naive and immature.”
The defendant was given an 18-month community order, with 10 rehabilitation activity days and 24 hours at an attendance centre.
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