Paralysed driver from drug crash caught smuggling drugs into the UK
A man left paralysed from the waist down after crashing a car while high on cocaine tried to smuggle almost a kilo of cannabis through Heathrow Airport, a court heard.
Aaron Lee was arrested after Border Force officers intercepted a package supposed to contain children’s blankets turned out to be drugs.
His parcel landed in the UK on New Year’s Eve in 2023 having been mailed from the US to an address in North Walsham.
The 24-year-old claimed he had ordered the cannabis from a supplier via Telegram.
Norwich Magistrates’ Court heard he was planning to treat the pain from the injuries he suffered in the crash in 2020 with the cannabis.
Maya Lal, mitigating, insisted that Lee is not ‘some drug kingpin or Pablo Escobar’, but that he was just trying to manage his pain.
Aaron was paralysed from the waist down in a crash in December 2020 (Picture: SWNS)
She told the court: ‘What underpins his offending is addiction to cannabis to manage pain as the result of his accident that left him paralysed from the waist down.
He found himself in a desperate situation struggling to manage. He has shown a great deal of candour and remorse.
‘He has done a great deal to turn things around since.’
Lee received was given prison sentence for careless driving after crashing a Mercedes into a tree while high on cocaine in December 2020.
His girlfriend and another friend who were passengers had minor injuries but he suffered a broken back and was left paralysed.
When police swooped on his home address, they discovered more large amounts of cannabis and drug dealing paraphernalia.
Sally Harris, prosecuting, said messages found on a seized mobile phone contained evidence of both importing and selling drugs.
She said he had previous convictions for dealing and that drugs worth more than £4,000 had been seized.
Lee, of Hoveton, Norfolk, pleaded guilty to improper importation of goods with intent to evade the prohibition and supply of cannabis.
Magistrates said importing drugs was a ‘very serious offence’ but suspended an eight week jail term for 12 months.
He was told to complete a six month drug rehabilitation requirement, eight rehabilitation days and 100 hours unpaid work.
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