TWO men were yesterday (Friday, May 16) jailed for bringing a large consignment of cocaine to the North-East.

Alexander Dobbing, 35, who organised the collection of almost two kilograms of the class A drug from Merseyside, received an eight year sentence.

Co-accused Wayne Bruce, 32, who picked up the packages in Liverpool and drove back with them sitting on the back seat of a car, was jailed for three years and four months.

Durham Crown Court heard that as a result of a police surveillance operation Bruce was pulled over in the car park of the Red Lion pub, on the A167 at Plawsworth, near Chester-le-Street, on his return to the region, at about 5.30pm on September 17 last year.

Richard Bennett, prosecuting, said the open packages were found in a black case on the back seat of the Vauxhall Insignia.

Examination revealed the recovered cocaine was of high purity, estimated to be worth in excess of £300,000 in street sale terms.

Bruce, of Cedarwood Grove, Sunderland, made no reply when interviewed by police, but admitted possessing a class A drug with intent to supply at a hearing at the court in December.

A week later, as a result of further police inquiries, including examination of a mobile phone recovered from Bruce, Dobbing was arrested on the M6 in Penrith, in Cumbria.

Dobbing, of Burdon Walk, Castle Eden, near Peterlee, also made no reply to police questions, but pleaded ‘guilty’ to a charge of conspiring with Bruce and others, unknown, to supply class A drugs, at a hearing earlier this year.

Mr Bennett told the court that the mobile phones used during the drug handover, were purchased with top-ups at a store in Sunderland on August 5 last year, the day Dobbing received a suspended prison sentence for dangerous driving, at Newcastle Crown Court.

But they were not used for 36 days, and were, “obviously purchased purely to be used in the drug transaction”.

Tony Davis, for Dobbing, said despite the lengthy surveillance it was clear that only one “relatively unsophisticated” drug deal was unearthed.

He said Dobbing took part in the plot as he had amassed large debts through his own use of cocaine.

Paul Currer, for Bruce, said he has few convictions in recent years and was only recruited as ‘courier’ as he was endebted to “a prominent criminal character” who put pressure on him to take part.

Jailing them, Judge Simon Hickey said the pair would have made “significant financial gain” had they not been detained.

Proceeds of crime confiscation proceedings will now be taken to discover what can be recovered from the pair.