'What the f****** hell is that...?' Man's two week holiday

A two week holiday to Thailand ended with prison for a would-be drugs smuggler.

Lewis Morgan, 20, tried to sneak just under 34 kilos of cannabis past border force officers at Manchester Airport. But he was soon rumbled when they took a closer look at his two large suitcases.

Morgan, who claimed that the luggage contained clothes, said ‘what the f****** hell is that?’ after the drugs were revealed, Manchester Crown Court heard. While he was apprehended, officers noticed a message on his iPhone from a contact named ‘Del Boy’ who told him ‘no comment all the way’.

But since the discovery on July 18, after he flew back to Manchester from Bangkok in Thailand, via Doha, Morgan has been ‘frank and honest’ with the authorities and admitted he embarked on the smuggling bid to make money. Morgan, from Crewe, hoped to clear a drug debt built up due to his use of cocaine, his barrister said.

He had spent the past two months on remand in prison awaiting sentencing. But he is now set to be released, and will be at liberty to celebrate his 21st birthday later this week.

Defending, Brendan O’Leary said Morgan’s behaviour was ‘wholly out of character’. He said Morgan had raised money for charity and has an ‘awful lot of positive aspects to his character’.

Mr O’Leary said Morgan had built up ‘significant debt’ after using cocaine, but that he has a ‘determination to put things right’. He said that the defendant had mental health issues and is capable of rehabilitation.

The barrister noted that ‘prison places are at a premium’ and said they should be reserved for offenders who ‘pose a risk or danger to the public’. “This defendant is not one of those,” Mr O’Leary said.

Sentencing, Recorder Phil Barnes was persuaded to avoid ordering Morgan to spend longer in prison. He told the defendant: “When we say drugs ruin lives, it isn’t a meaningless phrase. They do, and you are now seeing it.”

Morgan, of Bradeley Hall Road, Haslington, Crewe, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of a class B drug. He was sentenced to 22 months in prison, suspended for two years.

He was ordered to carry out rehabilitative work including a nine month drug program, ten rehabilitation activity requirement days and 100 hours of unpaid work.

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