Lorry driver jailed after drugs found hidden in frozen spinach

Dover, UK: Driver Peter Horton has been jailed for 14 years after drugs worth over £2.5 m were found underneath a consignment of frozen spinach bound for Ashford.

Horton, who was stopped at Dover’s Eastern Docks in June last year, He told customs officers he had been to Belgium and was heading for Ashford to deliver frozen vegetables. However, when officials searched the load they found quantities of heroin and cocaine.

Horton, who lives near York, admitted he had been offered £2,000 to bring in the load, which he claimed he thought were cigarettes.

But the judge Recorder Colin Reese QC rejected his claim and jailed him for 14 years, saying: “You knew what you were doing in bringing in a significant quantity of drugs into the UK.”