Dover's Eastern Docks, where Horton was stopped

by Paul Hooper

A lorry driver hid more than £2.5 m worth of drugs underneath a consignment of frozen spinach bound for Ashford.

Peter Horton, a 44-year-old father of three, was stopped at Dover’s Eastern Docks in June last year driving a lorry and trailer.

He told customs officers he had been to Belgium and was heading for Ashford to deliver frozen vegetables – but when officials searched the load they found quantities of heroin and cocaine.

Prosecutor Denzil Pugh told Canterbury Crown Court that the Class A drugs had a street value in excess of £2.5m.

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

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

Horton, who looked stunned at the long sentence, had admitted charges of drug smuggling.