Cabbie faces prison for carrying cocaine
A MINICAB driver has been told he is going to prison for helping a major drug dealer transport more than £300,000 worth of cocaine.
Derek Tucker, 50, of St Neot's Road, Harold Hill, was convicted on Wednesday of possession of cocaine with intent to supply following a trial at Southwark Crown Court.
Tucker was caught with 4kg of the class A drug in the boot of his Nissan Qashkai near drug dealer Edward Kirven's flat in The Hollow, Woodford Green.
Prosecutor Simon Wild told the court that when the boot of the car was searched, at 4pm on October 28, police found four block-shaped parcels wrapped in clingfilm and tape, each weighing one kilo.
The blocks were opened and the contents analysed and found to consist of cocaine at a purity of 66 per cent, giving them a street value of £320,000.
Tucker told police Kirven had paid him £100 to drive to a garden centre in Braintree and collect a box. It contained woolly hats and socks.
During the journey the box fell over and the packages fell out. Tucker decided to put them in a Tesco bag and binliner. He insisted he had no idea what was in the packages.
The jury convicted him unanimously of possession of class A drugs with intent to supply, but acquitted him of the more serious charge of conspiracy to supply.
Kirven, 28, financed a high-rolling lifestyle with vast earnings from the drugs trade, owning five houses and driving a £50,000 Range Rover while official records showed he had not worked since 2003.
Detectives searched his flat and found evidence he had been using it as a base to 'cut' huge quantities of cocaine for sale to other dealers.
Kirven admitted conspiracy to supply class A drugs and also faces years in jail.
Both men were remanded in custody ahead of sentencing on September 28.
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