His Vauxhall Astra was pulled over by police on the M6 - now he's serving five years in prison

A 55-year-old man has jailed for five years in prison after police found a hoard of cocaine worth £1.5m in his car during a routine stop check.

Peter Wiggins was handed the five year and five month sentence at Stafford Crown Court on Thursday, January 2, following his guilty plea to charges of possession with intent to supply class A drugs (cocaine) and possession of an offensive weapon.

The court was told that Wiggins' Vauxhall Astra was stopped by Cheshire Police officers near Stafford Services on the M6 on Tuesday, November 26, 2024. After getting out of the car and being detained by police, Wiggins was told that his vehicle would be searched under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

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When asked if officers might find anything of interest in his vehicle, Wiggins told them there was a box in his boot.

Inside the boot, officers discovered a large box containing 15 individually wrapped kilogram blocks of cocaine. Following this discovery, Wiggins was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class A drugs and taken into custody.

A subsequent search of Wiggins' home on Wordsworth Crescent, Blacon, led to the seizure of over £500 in cash, two bags and a tub filled with white powder, and a knuckle duster, leading to further arrest on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon.

Following a forensic examination of substances discovered in the property and his vehicle, it was estimated that Wiggins had a considerable amount of cocaine valued at potentially up to £1.5 million. 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.

He was later charged with intent to distribute class A drugs (cocaine) and possessing an offensive weapon, the robust evidence against him compelled Wiggins to enter a guilty plea. Discussing the case, Detective Sergeant Roy Wellings of CID Proactive West stated: "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."

He added: "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."