Man caught in car with £14k of drugs as a lamb ate chips in the back seat avoids jail

Image source, Police Scotland

A man who was caught in a car with £14,000 of drugs, while a lamb ate from a bag of chips in the back seat, has avoided jail.

John McNeil, 56, was a passenger in Lindsey Sangster’s vehicle which was stopped by police on the M74 in Glasgow on 22 April 2023.

Bags of heroin and cocaine were later recovered by a police dog underneath the front passenger seat of the Volkswagen Golf.

When quizzed about the animal – called Pablo – a sergeant claimed Sangster’s partner McNeil told him she was a “trainee shepherdess.” The duo were found guilty in September of possession of heroin and diamorphine with intent to supply.

Image source, Spindrift

John McNeil told jurors in his evidence that he was experienced with animals

The pair claimed they had tried to save the lamb – named after Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar – from a “dangerous position” on the middle of the road.

The court previously heard Pablo belonged to North Lanrigg Farm in Motherwell, which is owned by farmer Kirsty Mair.

A joint minute of agreed evidence said Mair had not given them permission to have the lamb.

Sgt Nick Twigg, 42, told jurors that he had reason to stop Sangster’s car on the motorway, with Sangster, McNeil and another man in the vehicle.

An initial search found a glass pipe in the driver’s door pocket while others were seized from McNeil and the man.

He said: “I asked Sangster where it [the lamb] came from and McNeil said that she was a trainee shepherdess.”

Prosecutor Julianna Keenan asked the officer if there was evidence of this and he replied: “No, the lamb at the time was eating a bag of chips left on the back seat. There were no bottles.”