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Man caught with 1kg of cocaine in van jailed

BBC Outside Truro Crown Court. The building is light grey and has the words on the front 'Courts of Justice'. There are purple flowers on the right.BBC
Carl Hourston, from Manchester, was caught with a kilo of the Class-A drug cocaine in Cornwall

A man caught with a kilogram of cocaine in his van in Cornwall has been jailed for four years and six months.

Truro Crown Court heard Carl Hourston, 41, was stopped by police on the A30 in Innis Downs in February 2025.

Hourston, 41, of Addison Road, Irlam, Manchester, admitted to possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

Prosecutor Lewis Aldous said the drugs had a street value of £80,000.

Mr Aldous said Hourston was directed to deliver the drugs from Liverpool to Cornwall.

The court heard he was a street dealer but unaware of the scale of the operation.

Ramsay Quaife, defending, said he was "fed up with his life" and had been an indebted courier.

Judge James Adkin said there was an element of county lines offending and Hourston had played a "significant role in the operation".

He said people trying to expand their criminal empire into the South West must be deterred.

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