Suspicious package posted in US leads police to Lancashire drug den, court hears

UK Border Force staff intercepted the parcel stuffed with almost a kilo of cannabis when it arrived in the Britain.

And when the address on the envelope - a terraced house in Lancaster - was raided by police officers they found quantities of crack cocaine and heroin, a judge in Preston was told.

Two men found in the premises appeared before the city’s Crown Court after admitting drugs offences.

Calam Hall, 27, who was said to be guarding the stash for a drugs gang, was jailed by Judge Graham Knowles KC for his role in the operation.

The tenant of the house, 63-year-old Ian Thornton, was given a community order and a fine for allowing his home to be used as a safe house after it was claimed he was “a weak and vulnerable man” who had been exploited by others higher up the chain.

An angry Judge Knowles said the sentences could have been greater had the case not been delayed for more than two years in an unduly slow process by the police and prosecution to get it to court.

The judge was told that Border Force officers picked up the package when it entered the UK from the United States in October 2022.

It was addressed to a man called Jack Rogers in Clarendon Road, Lancaster and contained a large quantity of cannabis.

Police raided the house where they found Hall and Thornton along with four other adults.

In a search of the rented property they discovered small quantities of crack cocaine and heroin with a street value of around £420 as well as £260 in cash.

They also found a large quantity of other “adulterant” substances used to cut the drugs for sale, along with paraphernalia including a press, a mould and a quantity of snap bags.

There was also an axe in the house.

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In a statement to police Hall, of Pinfold Lane, Lancaster, said he had only been in the house for 10 minutes before the police raid checking on his friend Thornton.

He denied any knowledge of the drugs and equipment.

Thornton said he had “no knowledge whatsoever” of the items found in his home.

Prosecution barrister Sacha Waxman said Thornton had a higher culpability role because his home was being used for drug activity.

Hall, she said, had a lesser role, but had an expectation of being rewarded with cash and drugs for his own use for looking after the stash.

Hall, a self-employed mechanic, was said by his defence lawyer to have been “simply the custodian of a small amount of drugs” in the property on behalf of someone else.

He was “remorseful and embarrassed” by his behaviour and was now staying away from his criminal associates.

“He wants to end the cycle of drugs in his life and he understands the negative impact this type of offence has on society,” said Miss Swift.

Jonathan Lally, for Thornton, said his client had permitted his house to be used for drug activity “for limited gain.”

He was a long-term drug user who had been given some drugs as recompense.

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“He had no role himself in the drug activity in the premises. He simply allowed them to put whatever they wanted into his house. He would not have known the extent of the operation, he was just allowing things to be stored there.”

Mr Lally said Thornton had been a drug user for more than 30 years. “He is someone with a significant and very lengthy addiction to drugs. (But) he has spent the last two years trying to put right the problems in his life.”

He was said to be “taking steps to distance himself from his associates”.

“While no violence was threatened, he may have been exploited to some extent.”

Judge Knowles told the court: “It is obviously wrong that people should have to wait two years even to be brought to (Magistrates) court as these two men were and then to Crown Court. It is not the fault of the defendants.

“This case concerned a house where relatively small quantities of drugs were found. The house had come to the notice of the authorities when cannabis was posted to it.

“The house belonged to Mr Thornton as a tenant. Hall was there as a custodian of the drugs. He had been carrying out that role for a year.”

He told Hall: “You say that you were essentially working off a very large drug debt. What exactly your duties were, you were holding drugs to give to others and you were carrying them out for a year.

“Your role was a limited one under the direction of people further up the chain, doing what you were told, performing a relatively important role. Having a safe house is a very important thing.

“That was your function. You had some understanding of the scale of the operation because you were involved for a year.”

He sent Hall to prison for 18 months saying an immediate custodial sentence was the only appropriate punishment for his role in the organisation.

Turning to Thornton he said the 63-year-old had health problems and the probation service described him as a “weak and vulnerable man put in a very difficult position”. But he added: “You agreed to them being in your house.”

He gave him an 18-month community order to include a nine-month drug rehabilitation requirement. He also fined him £250 and said he would be sent to jail for 10 days if he defaulted on payment.