Drug courier jailed for 40 months

Jul 8 2010 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

A DRUG courier who was caught using his work van to ferry a consignment of cocaine with a street value of nearly £60,000 has been jailed for 40 months.

A judge was told that David Miller (30) “succumbed to temptation” after he and his fiancee had planned an expensive wedding and he was left struggling to meet that expectation.

Police spotted Miller driving a white van on the M8 motorway as he headed for Coatbridge, in Lanarkshire. After he returned to West Lothian they moved in and detained him at Stonebank, in Livingston.

Miller, a technical courier, was asked if he had anything he should not have in the van and replied: “There’s cocaine in a bag.”

Nearly one-and-a-half kilos of the class-A drug were found in a carrier bag worth up to £59,400 on the streets.

Miller, of Fells Rigg, in Livingston, earlier admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine on April 2 this year at Stonebank in the Ladywell area of Livingston.

He told police that he had travelled to Coatbridge in the van to collect a package for someone whom he declined to name.

Defence solicitor advocate Ewen Roy said Miller’s involvement in the offence had shocked family and friends and he “bitterly regrets” it.

Lord Doherty told Miller: “The chain of distribution of drugs depends upon persons such as you being prepared to act as couriers.”

The judge told him he would have faced a five-year jail sentence, but for his early plea of guilty.