Julian Underhill at Norwich Crown Court (Picture: Masons)

An ‘opportunistic’ dealer who found £50 million worth of cocaine washed up on a beach said it was like finding ‘Willy Wonka’s golden ticket’.

Julian Underhill, 34, helped himself to some of the 360kg stash, with what he took worth tens of thousands of pounds.

But he was caught after news of his haul spread fast among the local community when he sent a bragging text to impress a woman.

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Prosecutor Martin Ivory said: ‘The defendant in his text message to another individual said that he had effectively stumbled upon what he described as Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket and that he anticipated that he could be £20,000 to £30,000 better off as a result of that find.’


It washed up on a Norfolk beach (Picture: Masons)

The drugs were in holdalls (Picture: Masons)

The National Crime Agency seized most of the 94% pure drugs after beach walkers reported coming across holdalls in Caister-on-Sea and Hopton beaches in February in Norfolk.



The drugs are believed to have been tied to buoys off the coast by smugglers from where they could be brought into shore by small boats.

But they were swept on to the beaches after strong winds and waves broke their ties.

Mr Ivory told the court of the moment officers arrested Underhill at his home: ‘They went into the premises and it was noted he was very nervous and sweating profusely, he asked for a glass of water which was given to him – he subsequently threw that glass of water over a bag of white powder.’

Underhill was ‘opportunistic’ (Picture: Masons)

The court heard just 8.8g worth between £360 and £450 of cocaine in identical wrapping to those found on the beach and 853g of cannabis worth around £5,000 was found at his home on March 3.

The prosecutor said Underhill told officers he had found two 1kg packages which had already been opened on the beach after the holdalls washed up on February 9.

Andrew Oliver, mitigating, said his client was not a cocaine dealer and that he only sent the text to impress a woman and used or sold 150g of cocaine since his find.

‘He says he’s effectively bragging to a female friend and it’s of note that he doesn’t want anyone else to know about it but these things being as they are, it obviously gets out because when one goes down the list of texts that Mr Hamilton (the officer in the case) identified there are clearly request for him for cocaine,’ said Mr Oliver.

‘Prior to that all of the dealings he has been doing are in relation to cannabis and it’s perfectly obvious from those messages that he is a low-level cannabis dealer.

‘In my submission he’s a somewhat pathetic heavy user of both cannabis and crack cocaine.

‘He has happened upon a quantity of cocaine, it’s simply not possible how much was there and he has accepted that he has supplied some of it and he has accepted that he had consumed some of it – the precise value may never be known.’

Underhill used 4g of cocaine per day and donned a beige shirt and blue coat when he appeared in the dock after admitting a string of drugs charges at a previous hearing, the court heard.



Mr Oliver added Underhill, of Caister-on-Sea, Norfolk, was a carer for his grandmother and had suffered from depression and had attempted to take his own life.

Sentencing him, Judge Maureen Bacon QC said he came ‘within a whisker’ of being jailed immediately.

Underhill, who is unemployed, was given a two year suspended sentence at Norwich Crown Court after admitting possession with intent to supply Class A and B drugs.

He was also ordered to attend a drug rehabilitation course.