A DRUG courier was caught after police followed his off-road bike as he was on his way to drop off a consignment of cocaine, a court was told.

William Anthony Greenwood, 48, was jailed for four years after a judge said he considered the self-employed motor mechanic played a “significant role” in the distribution of the class A drug.

Greenwood attempted to discard a package when he saw the police vehicle approaching as he pulled onto the drive-way of a house in Fair View, West Rainton, near Durham, on his mini-moto machine, on January 16.

Durham Crown Court heard that the officers retrieved a phone and the package, containing scales, from the neighbouring garden.

Graeme Gaston, prosecuting, said a container was found bearing white powder, but Greenwood said he believed it may have been gold.

Mr Gaston said examination of the contents confirmed it was 50.3 grammes of cocaine, with an estimated value of £2,515.

Greenwood, of Wear Street, Chilton Moor, Houghton-le-Spring admitted a charge of possessing a class A drug with intent to supply at an earlier hearing on the basis he was pressured into delivering the consignment to help repay his own son’s drug debts.

He claimed he was told to deliver it to an unnamed man on a pathway in West Rainton.

Judge Christopher Prince rejected that account after a subsequent trial of issue staged at the court last month, telling Greenwood his story was “fabricated” to account for the circumstances in which he was caught with the drugs consignment.

Jane Foley, mitigating, told the hearing: “All I can say on his behalf is that it’s been 19 years since his last offence and he has no previous convictions for drug offences.”