Couriers hid £1.9m cocaine as Christmas presents

Two drug couriers who were caught with £1.9m worth of cocaine disguised as Christmas presents have been jailed.

Police found 19kg (3st) of the high purity class A drug beneath wrapping paper in Claire Turnbull's car in Sunderland in December 2024, Newcastle Crown Court.

The delivery was destined for Teesside and Turnbull, 41, had been given the drugs by Robert Murphy, 44, who was a passenger in her red Vauxhall Astra.

The pair, both from Gateshead, admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply. Murphy was jailed for four years and eight months and Turnbull for five years and one month.

They had been in regular contact before meeting on Sheriffs Highway in Gateshead on the morning of 18 December 2024, prosecutor Adrian Strong said.

CCTV footage showed Murphy earlier putting two bags for life containing packages in his Mercedes and then transferring them to the boot of Turnbull's car, the court heard.

Wrapping paper had been placed over the packages to "make it look as though they were Christmas presents", Strong said.

The pair set off in Turnbull's car for an address in the TS6 postcode area, which covers a part of the Redcar and Cleveland Council area.

But as they travelled down the A19, Turnbull spotted a marked police car following her so pulled off into Pennywell where she stopped and officers spoke to her, the court heard.

Police found 19 1kg (2.2lb) parcels of cocaine, which was discovered to be between 87 and 92% pure, the court heard.

The drugs were worth up to £570,000 wholesale, Strong said, but their street value after being processed would be £1.9m.

Murphy made no comment to police while Turnbull claimed she had not known what was in the bags.

In mitigation, Brian Mark said Murphy had been enlisted to deliver the cocaine to pay off his own drug debt and had since been threatened if he were to assist prosecutors.

Rachel Hedworth said Turnbull had been a victim of extreme abuse in childhood and domestic violence as an adult, adding she had "suffered more than many would suffer in a lifetime".

She did not know the extent of the drugs she was couriering, having been recruited by Murphy to help, the court heard.

While accepting their mitigation and "genuine remorse", recorder Richard Stubbs said both knew they were transporting "industrial scale" levels of cocaine.

He said the harm had to be measured by the "sheer scale of people" the drugs could cause "immense problems, misery, injury and even death to", many of whom would be "deeply vulnerable".

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