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A dad said he moved 3kg of high-purity cocaine worth hundreds of thousands of pounds for "easy money" to help his disabled son.

Liam Bennett, 34, said he went to desperate lengths for cash to install equipment for his poorly child at home.

Now he and two other Middlesbrough men are in prison after they got embroiled with kilos of Class A drugs.

The narcotics, seized in two police hauls of 3kg each, could have been worth more than £1m on the streets of Teesside.

Bennett, however, said he only became a drugs courier in a desperate attempt to help his youngest child.

His advocate Michele Turner said the child was "severely disabled and quite ill" and attended sessions at Zoe's Place.

"They were advised quite strongly that their son would benefit from having similar facilities at home," she told Teesside Crown Court .

"He was working as a warehouse operative. The family were struggling but coping financially.

(Image: Cleveland Police)

"The family had raised a significant amount of money themselves towards supplying this equipment at home.

"The opportunity was suggested just in passing. He foolishly took the opportunity to raise what he thought would be easy money in order to pay into that fund.

"This was done to benefit his child."

Bennett was paid £500 to collect the cocaine consignment in an exchange at the Honeypot Lane travellers' site in Darlington.

Then he drove to a home on Bishopton Road, Grove Hill , Middlesbrough and took a black bag inside on the evening of October 11 last year.

Police officers had been observing his movements and swooped on the home.

Prosecutor Jolyon Perks said Bennett was caught in the kitchen with 34-year-old David Langan.

(Image: Cleveland Police)

Langan hurled a block of cocaine across the room while Bennett panicked and was restrained as he tried to leave.

Three kilo packages between 86 and 95% purity were found, along with cocaine-contaminated digital scales.

They were worth £40,000 to £50,000 each wholesale but £172,000 to £192,000 each on the street.

Daniel Bowden, 37, was another courier caught with another 3kg of 95 to 96%-pure cocaine after a car chase on July 15 last year.

He was followed as he drove a Transit van to the same travellers' site, then refused to stop for police on the A66 at about 4.35pm.

(Image: Cleveland Police)

He fled at up to 90mph, cut in and out of traffic, hurtled through the Grove Hill and Beechwood areas, ran a red light and forced other drivers to stop.

He sped past a group of schoolchildren and a stinger device forced him into a dead end near Beech Grove Primary School.

He ran from the van, throwing away three kilo packs of cocaine before he was caught hiding under a parked car on Cavendish Road.

He told officers: "What am I looking at there, do you think?

"I've got a kid. I haven't got a job. I've got no money. I needed the money."

One of the kilo packs of cocaine was not found until almost a fortnight later, when a resident discovered it in her garden bush.

Langan, of Gleneagles Road, Saltersgill , and Bennett, of Millbrook Avenue, Brambles Farm, admitted conspiring to supply Class A drugs.

(Image: Crown Prosecution Service)

Bowden, of Deepdale Avenue, Beechwood, admitted possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply and dangerous driving.

Langan's sister-in-law Jade Cave, 29, who lived at the Bishopton Road home where the drugs were found in October, was also in the dock.

She admitted permitting her premises to be used for the attempted production of cocaine.

Defence barristers stressed family responsibilities in the cases of all four defendants.

Kelleigh Lodge, defending Langan, said the dad got addicted to cocaine, ran up a debt to dealers, got involved in the drugs plot to pay it and was genuinely sorry.

Representing Bennett, Ms Turner said he lost his job and relationship and made his family's financial situation worse because of his crime.

She said he had his own difficulties but did his best to provide for his children, was only involved with the drugs for 18 to 24 hours under close supervision and was not heavily trusted.

George Hazel-Owram, for Bowden, said he was proud of being primary carer for two children in the year before his offences and regretted missing part of their lives while tackling his drug problem in custody.

Dr Christopher Wood, for Cave, said she had "an absolute revulsion" for drug users and dealers, but let her heart rule her head, did not question what was happening and "turned a blind eye".

He said she was angry with herself for putting her family home in jeopardy, worked hard for her family and was sole carer for her two children.

Judge Howard Crowson told Langan: "You had a significant role with quite a lot of high-purity cocaine.

"This is in fact close to importation-level."

He jailed Langan for seven years and three months, his first prison sentence, saying: "It could have been worse."

The other three played lesser roles.

The judge jailed Bennett for three years and eight months, saying he acted under Langan's direction and taking into account his family's hardship.

Bowden was jailed for four-and-a-half years and banned from driving for 51 months.

Cave was given a 20-week prison sentence suspended for six months.

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