Tobacco smuggler spared jail

A SMUGGLER who crammed almost 1,000lbs of hand-rolling tobacco and 28,000 cigarettes into a people-carrier has been spared jail.

Officers from HM Revenue & Customs found the vehicle's roof-box filled with cigarettes and tobacco was hidden under blankets when Karl Hansen was stopped at Poole Ferry Port, Dorset.

The 47-year-old was given a six-months prison sentence, which was suspended for two years, when he appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court.

The tiler was stopped by customs officers on October 3 last year as he drove a Chrysler Grand Voyager into Dorset after arriving from Cherbourg, France.

Hansen, of Kennedy Gardens, Billingham, pleaded guilty to evading around £71,000 in excise duty.

He was also given a three-month curfew between the hours of 9pm and 7am. The judge also ordered that the vehicle be forfeited under a deprivation order and awarded £250 costs.

The Recorder, Mr Francis Abbott, warned Hansen he would be sent to prison if he did it again.

He said: "If the cigarettes had been allowed through, the Government would be short-changed and the money has to come out of everyone else's pockets."