Lincs: “Intelligent” young man who used the post to import drugs from Pakistan has been jailed

James Ford, 24, was caught red handed after customs officials intercepted a parcel addressed to his home near Lincoln from the Pakistani city of Lahore.

When the parcel was opened and analysed by police experts it was found to contain just over 400 grams of ketamine with a street value of between £3,000 and £8,000.

Andrew Scott, prosecuting, said police arranged for the parcel to be redelivered to Ford’s home in Fen Road, Heighington, and then executed a search warrant at the property.

When officers arrived Ford admitted that he also had quantity of cocaine in an upstairs bedroom. The package was analysed and found to contain 58.64 grams of cocaine with a potential street value of £2,250. The parcel of ketamine was also recovered during the raid.

Gordon Aspden, mitigating, told the court Ford came from an “excellent background” with his father being a retired geography teacher and his mother an accountant.

“He attended the Priory School in Lincoln where he left with 12 GCSE’s between grades A and C. He then chose to go the vocational route and worked for an electrical engineering company in Market Rasen,” Mr Aspden said.

The court heard Ford became involved with drugs at the age of 18 while taking a college course in Lincoln. “It was a monumental error of judgement,” Mr Aspden added.

Mr Aspden told the court since the raid in October 2012, Ford had moved to the Newark area and stayed out of trouble.

Mr Aspen added: “He now lives in a one bedroom flat in Balderton.”

“He has been working five days a week without holidays in a variety of jobs including as a chef at a pub in the village of Fiskerton just outside Newark.”

Ford, now 24, pleaded guilty to importing ketamine and possessing cocaine with intent to supply during September and October, 2012.

Passing sentence Judge Sean Rafferty QC told him: “You come from an excellent background.”

“You had every advantage in life. You decided to throw that away and nobody else.”