Garage boss in £6.3m drugs shame

Mark Leach

1 More Image(s) In Gallery

A hard-up garage boss has been jailed after storing 631 kilos of cannabis worth up to £6.3million to pay off debts.

Mark Leach, 51, of Crossbank Way, Milnrow, was caught red-handed when officers discovered the haul by chance at his garage on a Shaw trading estate in July.

Leach was jailed for three years and four months on Wednesday at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court after pleading guilty to an offence of being concerned in the supply of a Class B drug.

The court was told how Leach agreed to accept delivery of the massive consignment in a bid to pay off mounting debts. He accepted an offer of £1,000 to use his business premises as a safe house for a few hours when the drugs were brought over from Holland.

What he didn’t know was that the lorry load was worth a staggering £6.3million if sold in small wraps on the streets.

Officers had been making enquiries relating to a security and vehicle alarm going off when they spotted a man running from the premises on the Trent Mill estate on Duchess Street, Shaw, where a roller-shutter door was partially open. They investigated — and were stunned to find a huge quantity of bars of cannabis resin, estimated to be worth £500,000-£800,000 in that form.

Father-of-five Leach, was said to have agreed to become involved in the deal after his business was hit by the recession and he struggled to pay debts.

Judge Jeffrey Lewis told him: “You were a bit-part player in the import of this enormous amount of cannabis, but though you were a small cog in the machinery, you were a vital cog.

“You got yourself into a situation where you took a desperate and stupid step. You found yourself in financial difficulty and thought this was a way of making some quick money without too much difficulty.”

Lisa Boocock, prosecuting, told the court that Leach, who had already fought to rebuild his business after a previous setback, had accepted the offer to become involved after being approached by a customer who knew he was in difficulties. He had been sent details of the consignment by text, but claimed to have no knowledge of its value.

Mark Rhind, defending, said his client had enjoyed a reputation as a “grafter”, and had been a hard working, decent family man.

He said: “In many ways he lived an unremarkable life and was a normal law-abiding, tax-paying man — the kind who liked to wash his car on a Sunday.”

He said twice-married Leach had been terrified of his life falling apart again: “Contrary to his good judgment and common sense, he saw this as a means of keeping the wolf from the door and easing the pressure,” he said.

Mr Rhind said his client had had no previous involvement with drugs and “didn’t know cannabis from cotton.”

He said: “This was a breathtaking quantity of cannabis, and it literally took his breath away when he realised how much was involved. He was extremely naive about what was going to happen, but by then he was in too deep.”

Mr Rhind added: “Ironically, he put everything he sought to protect, in much more danger than ever before.”