Man who tried to have 29,000 ecstasy tablets delivered to his Hebburn home is jailed

Marshall Scurfield arranged the illegal deal over Snapchat but the package, which was posted from the Netherlands, was intercepted by Border Force officers at Birmingham Airport.

Newcastle Crown Court heard officers from the National Crime Agency seized the Class A drugs haul, which was green in colour and worth around £140,000 on the streets, and delivered a decoy parcel to Scurfield's address at Coniston Avenue, in Hebburn.

Prosecutor Omar Ahmad told the court: "That was the delivered to the defendant's home address on Feburary 25 2022, with an NCA officer posing as a delivery driver."

Mr Ahmad said Scurfield, who took delivery of the replacement package which contained a recording device, was arrested after it was handed over.

His iPhone showed the deal had been arranged with someone over Snapchat.

Scurfield, 22, now of Rose Bank, Airdrie, Scotland, admitted fraudulent evasion of prohibition on importation on the basis he had ran up a drugs debt and could have faced violent consequences if it was not paid back.

Judge Tom Mitchell sentenced him to four years behind bars and told him: "At the time of the offence you were 19-years-old. You found yourself, as is often the way, in bad company and found yourself exploited by that company.

"I deal with you on the basis you were effectively coerced and to some extent you were naive, you were young."

Peter Sabiston, defending, said Scurfield has settled in Scotland with his girlfriend, has been in no trouble before or since and may still have his delivery job when he is released.

Mr Sabiston said Scurfield has family support, is no longer involved in drug culture, does not drink and added: "He was young at the time, he was influenced, he was coerced and he was naive.

"He is in the process of putting his life back together."

Our range of free email newsletters bring South Tyneside’s latest news and sport to you - sign up online here

NCA branch commander Martin Clarke said: "Marshall Scurfield attempted to import dangerous class A drugs into the UK and thought that by using the postal system he would escape attention from law enforcement.

"Working with our colleagues at Border Force, we were able to prevent a sizeable quantity of ecstasy from making it to our streets, where it would have created exploitation and violence.

"We continue to pursue and dismantle high harm organised crime networks behind smuggling attempts like these."