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A man who smuggled heroin inside Kinder Eggs stashed up his bum has been jailed for four years, while his brother – who did the same – avoided a jail sentence.

James and Sean Kenny, aged 21 and 23 respectively, were arrested by police waiting for them at Plymouth train station in March last year after smuggling the drugs from Liverpool .

The brothers were found to be in possession of 250g of heroin and a small amount of cannabis – placed inside Kinder egg containers and stashed in their bottoms.

They both pleaded guilty at a hearing at Plymouth Crown Court.

The court heard how James had £10,900 of heroin, while Sean was carrying £13,900. The drugs were between 20% and 30% pure.

The court had been told Sean Kenny had run up a large drug debt and was set to clear it by bringing the heroin to Plymouth.

He roped in his younger brother to courier in the illegal substances, although James Kenny – who had no previous convictions and was a man of good character – had ‘little awareness’ of the scale of the operation.

Deni Matthews, defending Sean Kenny, told the court his client had been released in 2013 after being jailed for four years for warehousing a large quantity of heroin.

He agreed with Judge Ian Lawrie QC that it was unlikely his client would divulge names of those who instructed him if he “values his health”.

Mike Brown, on behalf of James Kenny, accepted Judge Lawrie’s suggestion that his client “was not engaging his brain as he should have been”.

Mr Brown said his client had “misplaced family loyalty”.

He said James Kenny had a job working in a shop, had been an art and design student with plans to go to university and still lived with his mum.

He said the older brother had approached him saying he needed help, but did not explain the amount of debt he was in until the morning of their trip and did not alert the younger man to what exactly he was carrying.

Judge Lawrie noted how the younger brother’s ignorance included his lack of awareness of the danger he was in if the packaging had broken.

Mr Brown said he had explained to James Kenny that he would have died.

In reply, Judge Lawrie said: “He would [first] have bounced off the stratosphere mentally and then he would be dead”.

In sentencing, Judge Lawrie said the pair had trafficked the class A drug from Liverpool to Plymouth and it was “a problem Plymouth has had to tolerate for many years”.

“This part of the world is getting heartily sick of it.”

He noted how the men had contributed to a “trade in human misery – some might get temporary repose but ultimately it is misery”.

He said Sean Kenny had been the prime mover and exploited his brother’s loyalty, while James had assisted his brother out of a “combination of naivety and plum stupidity”.

He sentenced Sean Kenny to four years imprisonment, noting his only real mitigation was his early guilty plea.

Judge Lawrie told James Kenny: “You really are an idiot”, but noted he had no previous involvement with the criminal justice system, no drug addictions or drug debts.

He handed the 21-year-old a two year jail sentence, but suspended it for two years and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and pay a £100 victim surcharge.