Man jailed after £1.5 million worth of class A drugs found in his car

A 55-year-old man has been jailed for five-years after officers discovered a large quantity of cocaine in his car during a stop check.

Peter Wiggins appeared at Stafford Crown Court on Thursday 2 January, where he was sentenced to five years and five months imprisonment.

His sentence comes after he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply class A drugs (cocaine) and possession of an offensive weapon.

The court heard that on Tuesday 26 November 2024 Wiggins' Vauxhall Astra was pulled over by Cheshire Police officers near Stafford Services on the M6.

Wiggins exited his vehicle and was detained by officers, who informed him that his vehicle was to be searched under the Misuse of Drugs Act. When asked if officers might find anything of interest in his vehicle, Wiggins told them there was a box in his boot.

Upon opening the boot, a large box containing 15 individually wrapped kilogram blocks of cocaine was found. As a result of the discovery, Wiggins was arrested at the scene on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class A drugs and was taken into custody.

After being taken into custody, officers conducted a warrant at Wiggins' address on Wordsworth Crescent, Blacon. Here, they seized over £500 in cash, two bags and a tub filled with white powder and a knuckle duster, for which Wiggins was later further arrested under suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon.

Following forensic examination of the substances found at the property and his car, it was estimated that Wiggins had been in possession of a sizable quantity of cocaine with a potential street value of up to £1,500,000 (£1.5m). 

During his interview, Wiggins provided no comment to all questions posed to him, failing to account for how the 15 individually wrapped packages containing class A drugs came to be in his the boot of his car.

Wiggins was later charged with possession with intent to supply class A drugs (cocaine) and possession of an offensive weapon and, due to the overwhelming amount of evidence against him, he was left with no choice but to plead guilty to the charges that faced him.

Detective Sergeant Roy Wellings, of CID Proactive West, said:

"Disrupting the supply of illegal drugs in and out of Cheshire remains a top priority for the Constabulary, day in, day out and anyone who is brazen enough to think that they can get in or out of our county undetected, is sadly mistaken and underestimates our abilities.

"Peter Wiggins travelled to an address in the West Midlands, where he remained for upwards of two hours, before returning to Cheshire with a boot full of cocaine wrapped up in kilogram blocks. Despite quite clearly being caught out, he still refused to admit any accountability until the very last minute, when he had no other choice.

"We take this kind of criminality very seriously here in Cheshire, so let this result be a warning to anyone who thinks they can get away with drug dealing in our county without any repercussions."

Pictured - Peter Wiggins.