A driver caught with almost a kilo of cannabis in a car on the M6 near Carlisle has been jailed.
Robert Hebblethwaite, 32, pooled money with a friend to buy the class B drug and was transporting it back to his home in Scotland when an Audi was pulled over close to Junction 43 on January 4 2020.
Hebblethwaite gave a false name and then said he had been a passenger who had switched places with the driver during an 80mph manoeuvre after they spotted the patrol car.
That claim, prosecutor Tim Evans told Carlisle Crown Court, was deemed to be utterly remarkable and utterly unbelievable.
Around 850g of cannabis – potentially worth £8,500 – was found inside a buckets side the vehicle. But attempts to bring Hebblethwaite to justice were frustrated for many months because he gave bogus personal details.
But his fingerprints were found on the cargo. He eventually surrendered himself and when he appeared in front of a judge he admitted doing an act intended to perverted the course of justice and possessing cannabis with intent to supply.
Hebblethwaite, of Hillhead of Dens, near Peterhead, was described by a barrister as remorseful for his crimes.
But Judge Nicholas Barker imposed an immediate eight-month prison sentence.
He told the defendant: “Those who wish to lie to the police, to try to seek to get away from their responsibility for a crime and seek to pervert the course of justice — it must be clear to all that a heavy price will paid for this.
