Veteran spared jail for £800k drug haul

A FORMER soldier who ferried £800,000 of cocaine to pay back a debt after being caught in a large bootleg cigarette scam has been spared jail.

Timothy Shaw - a Falklands and Northern Ireland veteran - was snared by police in June 2025.

The 64-year-old was stopped in a Volvo on the M74 near Ecclefechan, having travelled from the north west of England.

Ten blocks of high purity cocaine were found stashed in the boot of the vehicle.

The ex-squaddie, of Motherwell, Lanarkshire, stated to officers: “I was told to go and pick up. I do not know how much of what.

“They did not say what I was to pick up. In my mind I knew what I thought it was.”

Shaw was back at the High Court in Glasgow this week after earlier pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of the class A drug as a courier on a single day.

Shaw had previously been jailed for 21 months in Kent in 2012 for his role in helping organise shipments of millions of counterfeit cigarettes in HGVs disguised to make it look like the trucks were carrying frozen food.

Shaw had three others - including the smuggling gang leader - had admitted to a charge of the fraudulent evasion of £2.7m of duty.

Lord Scott on Tuesday told him that another prison stint was “certainly appropriate”.

But, he instead said: “It is an unfortunate, but unavoidable conclusion that whatever pressures you felt, it your decisions that have put you in the position of facing a custodial sentence again.

“Having heard about you and the whole circumstances, I am prepared to take the unusual decision of stepping back from imposing a sentence of imprisonment.

“I am proposing to impose a community payback order on you.”

This involves Shaw having to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work. He will also be supervised for a year.

Shaw was warned that if he breached the order, he will be hauled back into the dock.

The court previously heard when Shaw was halted by police, he admitted: “I have ten bits in the boot.”

He claimed to have met an unknown man at a service station who put the boxes into the car.

When asked what the blocks were, Shaw said he did not know, but added “cocaine or something like that.”

Prosecutor Michael MacIntosh told the court: “He declined to say who he was instructed by as he was fearful for his safety.

“He was involved to pay back a debt after being stopped bringing cigarettes into the country without paying tax.”

Taylor Muir, defending, said a pre-sentencing background report had been prepared on Shaw, who was deemed to be a low risk of re-offending.