A woman found with a two-year-old child as she carried £370,000-worth of cannabis through Cumbria has been handed a suspended prison sentence.
Leonnie Anne Southgate, 34, was stopped by a police officer who suspected her Alfa Romeo Giulietta was speeding on the M6 southbound, between Penrith and Carlisle, on July 23 this year.
Southgate was stopped and found to have no tax for the car, which had a cracked windscreen and a two-year-old child in a passenger seat.
Southgate appeared nervous, fidgety and on edge, Carlisle Crown Court heard today.
She directed police to the boot. Inside a Sports Direct bag were vacuum wrapped packages of cannabis pollen which weighed in at 37 kilos and, a trained drugs officer concluded, was potentially worth £370,000.
There were stickers on the packages, one of which read: “Premium quality hash.” Almost £1,000 cash was also found.
Southgate had collected the drugs from Scotland and, a sat nav on her mobile phone revealed, was heading to Liverpool when she was pulled over.
Further phone interrogation revealed she had made one previous illegal journey, in late June.
The court heard Southgate appeared to have been acting under the direction of a USA-based contact who was saved in her phone as The Jock.
She admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply, and being concerned in supplying the class B drug.
Her guilty pleas were entered on the basis that her role had been merely to collect and deliver the drugs.
After hearing mitigation, and that Southgate had been remanded in custody since July, Recorder David Mahony suspended a 22-month jail term for two years.
Southgate, of Buxton, Derbyshire, must attend probation service rehabilitation sessions and complete 150 hours’ unpaid work.
