A wagon driver who left behind a huge £630,000 cannabis haul as he fled the scene of an A66 crash near Appleby has been jailed.
Valerijus Petrusevas, 41, was seen leaving Scotch Corner services “like a rocket” before his lorry overturned close to Warcop on October 1.
Police found the vehicle blocking one carriageway and closed the road for several hours while wreckage was recovered.
There was a “person-sized hole” in the windscreen. Carlisle Crown Court heard police searched the trailer and recovered 99 packages of cannabis bush weighing in at around 63kg.
There was no sign of Petrusevas, of Clendinning Avenue, Portdown. He had suffered a head injury and hitched a lift away from the crash site, spending three nights in a Travelodge north of Carlisle before returning to Northern Ireland.
He was arrested a fortnight later after being circulated as “wanted”.
Before the crash, Petrusevas had transported a trailer-load of mushrooms from Northern Ireland to West Sussex.
He told police he rested for nine hours at that site while his vehicle was reloaded with cling film and empty crates, and denied having knowledge of the cannabis.
However, a suspicious site worker saw Petrusevas loading boxes into his trailer from an unauthorised van in an area not covered by CCTV.
He denied possessing cannabis with intent to supply but was convicted following a trial and jailed for four years, two months.
He had admitted failing to stop and careless driving, and will serve a year’s ban when released.
