Two men have been sentenced after they were found with three builder's bags full of cannabis worth up to £160,000 after police stopped a van
William Stokoe, 55, from Hull, now of Clyde Court, Leeds and Daniel Flintoft, 30, of Roger Garth, Willerby, admitted being concerned in supplying cannabis on August 21, 2020, reports Hull Live. One of the pair said he had been pressured to "warehouse" the drugs.
The other, with a string of 15 aliases and a long history of 90 often violent crimes, was recruited to turn up with a van to move the bags, Hull Crown Court heard.
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Stephen Welch, prosecuting, said police had stopped the van and had then found the two men inside. Stokoe was the driver while Flintoft was a passenger.
The three builder's bags in the back of the van contained 16 packages of the drug along with 11 bags of other left-over material.
One of the 16 packages was weighed by the police and was found to be 958g. The street value of the estimated total of 15kg was between £80,000 and £160,000.
Flintoft had agreed to store the cannabis in his mother's garage, but he claimed that he was anxious about it being there and wanted to be rid of it. It was there for less than 24 hours.
Stokoe, who has 15 alias names on his criminal record, had turned up in a van after being asked to transport the bags for a £100 fee. He had "only just acquired the van" and claimed to have developed a sudden interest in doing removals, but he admitted that he knew that the bags contained cannabis. He had not registered the van in his own name and it was not insured.
"They may not have known how much cannabis was in the back of the van but they knew there was a substantial amount," said Mr Welch. "The prosecution have accepted that their sole role was the delivery of the drugs from A to B."
Stokoe and Flintoft were heading to a destination when they were intercepted by the police. Stokoe later made a "jest" that, if he had known how much cannabis was there, he would have asked for more money than the £100.
Stokoe had convictions for 90 previous offences, including producing a small amount of cannabis in 2007. He also had convictions for grievous bodily harm with intent, wounding and assault. Flintoft had convictions for six previous offences.
Rachel Scott, mitigating, said that when Stokoe went to the house, it was the first time that he had met Flintoft. The comment about asking for more money was supposedly his way of demonstrating how little he claimed to know about what was in the builder's bags.
Stokoe reversed the van up and the bags were put in the back of it by other men. "He did not lift them," said Ms Scott.
"He did not assist with that. The doors were shut on the van. One door would not shut. He went and forced it shut."
Stokoe smelled the cannabis and one of the men, who he did not know, confirmed that there was cannabis in the bags, claimed Ms Scott. Stokoe claimed that he thought that there must have been soil, cuttings and other things needed for a cannabis grow in the bags.
"He wasn't aware that there was as much cannabis as there was," she added. "There is no evidence of him having any links to cannabis grows or links to any of the other men, including Flintoft.
"This was his only involvement. He didn't have any involvement in the scale of the operation."
Stokoe had suffered problems and bereavements over the years and had previously been homeless for years and living on the streets. He was now living out of the area after being attacked in December in Hessle Road, after being "held responsible for drugs".
Sean Smith, representing Flintoft, said that the supposed street value of the cannabis was a "guesstimate", because only one of the bags had been weighed and it could not be said for certain how much there was.
Flintoft suggested it would have been hard to say "no" to those who had asked him to transport the drugs and claimed that he was in fear of his and his family's windows being put through.
"He has accepted that he was to be rewarded," said Mr Smith. "He would receive a treat but it's not identified financially. He regrets getting into the van. He was sofa surfing at the time of this offence.
"Someone who is sofa surfing will do something more amenably and for a lot less money. He turned up at his mother's garage. He realised very quickly that this was cannabis.
"He was on the phone to say 'You are going to need to move this'. The co-accused was recruited."
Flintoft was working and had six children to look after through extended family.
Recorder Simon Jackson KC told the men: "You were part of the middle of what was a much larger chain. Both of you are to be treated as knowing that this was part of a much wider operation. This is a significant part of what is very significant crime."
Stokoe and Flintoft were each given a two-year suspended prison sentence and 20 days' rehabilitation. Stokoe was also given a five-month 8pm to 6am curfew and Flintoft was ordered to do 300 hours' unpaid work.
