A gang of drug dealers who were caught smuggling drugs into Creamfields music festival using condoms and Kinder Eggs have been jailed.
Thirteen men and one woman were caught carrying cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine into the three-day festival in August.
The gang, who were aged between 18 and 24, were sentenced to a combined 31 years at Warrington Crown Court yesterday. The gang used a number of ways to attempt to smuggle the drugs into the event, including hiding them inside beer cans, as well as stashing them inside their bodies in Kinder Eggs and condoms.
According to the Warrington Guardian, a number of those jailed hadn't gone to the festival with the intention of selling drugs, but were carrying them in to share among friends.
Twenty-one-year-old Hannah Lewis, from Edinburgh, says she was asked to bring drugs into the festival by a dealer in return for free drugs. She was found with a Kinder Egg hidden inside her containing £3,430 ($4,820) worth of cocaine and over 50 ecstasy tablets worth £580 ($815).
Speaking in court, where she represented herself, Lewis said: "I'm so truly sorry for coming down here and committing this crime - I promise I will never ever do anything like this again."
She was jailed for two years and four months.
The longest sentence was given to 21-year-old Lewis Collins, from Abergele, Wales, who was handed a three-year-and-nine-month sentence after pleading guilty to possession with intent to supply cocaine and MDMA.
Amongst the other men arrested and charged was Arran Wharton-Craven, 23, from Lincoln, who pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply ecstasy and ketamine after being found with Kinder Eggs containing £1,010 ($1,419) worth of cocaine. He was given three years and six months.
Twenty-year-old Joseph Kirkham, from Merseyside, was found with a condom filled with £1,240 ($1,740) worth of cocaine hidden inside him - he was given two years in prison.
Charlie Gratton, 24, from Stockton-on-Tees, was found carrying £1,395 ($1,960) of ketamine and 114 ecstasy tablets. He was jailed for three years.
While those caught were handed jail sentences, three of the men had them suspended.
Judge Dutton said: "Over the weekend, there were around 40 admissions to hospital from the festival while the previous year there was a drug-associated death.
"There are also more than 130 criminal cases going through the courts as a result of this year's festival.
"This is a serious matter - not just for the police in Cheshire but for the community as a whole.
"There is wholesale class A drug dealing going on at Creamfields, and those who attend must understand that if they sell drugs at the festival there is a significant risk of being caught and sentenced to lengthy prison terms."
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Source: Warrington Guardian; Liverpool Echo
Featured Image Credit: Cheshire Constabulary