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

A man who was caught in a car with more than £14,000 worth of drugs and a lamb named Pablo eating chips has been spared jail.

John McNeil, 56, was a passenger in Lindsey Sangster's vehicle when police stopped the pair on the M74 in Glasgow in April 2023.

A police dog later found £4,640 worth of cocaine and £10,050 worth of heroin from underneath the front passenger seat of the car.

Pablo, named after the Colombian drug lord, belonged to North Lanrigg Farm in Lanarkshire, and the court previously heard that owner Kirsty Mair had not permitted them to take the lamb.

McNeil and Sangster told the court they had tried to save the lamb from a “dangerous position” on the road. It was returned to Ms Mair after being seized.

McNeil and Sangster were found guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court in September of possession of heroin and diamorphine with intent to supply.

Sheriff Tony Kelly ordered McNeil, of Fairlie, North Ayrshire, to do 300 hours of unpaid work and tagged him for six months, meaning he must stay indoors between 8pm and 5am.

The sheriff said: “You have been subject of a number of previous convictions and you understand that these offences are grave enough to merit custody.”

He added: “I will step back from imposing custody having regard to the age of these matters and there is nothing arising for criminal offences for you to be dealt with.

“I am told that your risk of re-offending has been assessed as low.

“This community payback order is to mark the court’s disapproval and the repugnant offence.”

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

Asked if there was evidence of this, Mr Twigg said: “No, the lamb at the time was eating a bag of chips left on the back seat. There were no bottles.”

Bronwyn Moore, who was defending McNeil, said he was now a team leader at a construction company.

The lawyer added: “He accepts at the time he was living an extremely chaotic lifestyle fuelled by drug misuse.

“He accepts and is candid that he was at the height of his addiction and was associating with a number of like-minded people.

“He accepts that being involved in that type of lifestyle has led to the situation he is in and accepts the verdict of the jury.”

Jurors also heard that Sangster was under the influence of drugs when she was pulled over and pleaded guilty at separate proceedings. She was disqualified from driving for 18 months and ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work.

Speaking after Pablo was returned to Miss Mair, she said: “Moral of the story, maybe it pays to tag lambs early, or maybe it is a lesson to drug dealers: if you want to be inconspicuous, don't steal a lamb and have it in the back of a car going down the motorway.

“Anyway, Pablo is fine, in with his new pet lamb pals. You literally couldn't make it up, and wouldn't it have been a great April Fool's prank had it not been true.”