Duo jailed after being caught driving down Doncaster motorway with £80k of cocaine stashed in vehicle

Defendants Alan Forster, 41, and Lewis Darcy, 20, were travelling southbound on the A1 towards Junction 36 in Doncaster on March 26 this year, when they were stopped by police. 

When officers approached the vehicle, they found Forster in the drivers’ seat and Darcy in the front passenger seat; and subsequently began searching the vehicle, Sheffield Crown Court heard. 

“Their phones were seized, and in the front footwell of the car they found a JD Sports bag. Within it was a package that had the appearance of a wrap of drugs,” said Stephanie Hollis, prosecuting. 

She added: “Reports confirmed the package was one kilogram (kg) of cocaine with a purity of 90 per cent.” 

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Analysis from a drugs squad officer stated that should the cocaine have been sold as one ‘block’ it would have had a street value of between £45,000 and £53,000; but had the drugs been divided into 1kg deals they would have been worth up to £80,000. 

When interviewed by the police, Darcy said he associated with members of a ‘local cartel’ and had run up debts of £400, and to clear those debts he went to a car park to pick up a package. 

Forster answered no comment in police interview. 

Ms Hollis said it was the Crown’s case that Darcy had a ‘significant role’ in the drugs matter. 

Both defendants pleaded guilty to an offence of possession of a controlled drug of Class A with intent to supply. 

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Forster, who admitted being the driver, was disqualified from driving one month before this offence, and also pleaded guilty to an additional offence of driving whilst disqualified as well as breaching a suspended sentence order. 

Edward Moss, mitigating for Darcy, said: “He was clearly out of his depth and knows he has to face the consequences...he wishes to apologise, through me, for his actions.”

Representing Forster, Cheryl Dudley, told the court: “He’s 41-years-old, and for some reason involved himself in this escapade...there are impacts [that a custodial sentence will have] on his family and he understands that – but knows he has brought that on himself and has no-one else to blame.”

Judge Peter Kelson QC jailed Darcy for five years, and Forster for three-and-a-half years, after determining Darcy played a more significant role in the drugs offence. 

- South Yorkshire Police have been asked to provide custody images of Darcy and Forster 

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