Newtownabbey man Daryl Patton 'fled car containing £100k of suspected cocaine'

Daryl Patton, 37, appeared in court charged with possession of a class A controlled drug with intent to supply

A Newtownabbey man who allegedly fled a car containing £100,000 worth of suspected cocaine has claimed he parked up to relax and watch YouTube videos.

Daryl Patton, 37, rejected allegations he locked the vehicle and ran across fields as officers carried out checks at Mallusk Playing Fields.

The incident happened on 30 December.

Police were unable to detain him, but broke into the Volkswagen Passat and seized two large blocks of suspected cocaine.

Mr Patton, of Dorchester Avenue in Newtownabbey, appeared at Belfast Magistrates' Court on Friday on charges of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply, obstruction and using a motor vehicle without insurance.

He was refused bail and remanded into custody until next month.

An investigating detective said police encountered Mr Patton sitting in the vehicle parked at Mallusk Playing Fields.

Mr Patton allegedly had a mobile phone with him in breach of a prohibition on possessing any internet-enabled devices while awaiting trial for a separate drugs-related case.

When asked for his reasons for being there at 19:30 GMT he changed his story three times, the court heard.

Mr Patton initially claimed he had been surfing the internet, then said he was meeting a friend, before telling police he was going to a nearby relative's house.

At first he declined to get out of the car, according to the detective, but eventually exited and locked it, refused to hand over the keys and ran off across the fields.

Police gave chase but were unable to detain him.

The officers broke into the vehicle through a window and seized suspected cocaine with an estimated street value of £100,000 from the passenger area.

The court heard that amid efforts to locate the accused, he handed himself in at a PSNI station on Thursday and provided a statement denying any involvement with the suspected cocaine.

"He said he drove to the playing fields to relax and watch some YouTube videos because his mental health was not so good, and he was fed up staying in the house over Christmas," the detective said.

"He claimed he had been there for 20 minutes prior to being spoken to by police.

"He said that he had never seen the blocks of cocaine before and his fingerprints and DNA would not be on them."

In the statement, Mr Patton alleged that he had been "set up" and denied either locking the car or fleeing to prevent the suspected cocaine being found.

"He denied that he is a drug dealer and he denied that he was alone in order to complete a drugs handover," the detective added.

'Wanted to get head showered'

Questioned by defence counsel Sean O'Hare, the detective confirmed that preliminary tests have only been carried out on one of the two blocks of suspected cocaine.

The barrister argued that Mr Patton does not own the car containing the consignment.

"He made the case to police that he wanted to get his head showered, and the way he did that was to go to a relatively local, well-known car park, parked up and watching these YouTube videos," Mr O'Hare submitted.

"When police tapped his window he realised he was in defiance of his [previous] bail, realised he was in difficulty and made some ham-fisted attempts to explain himself.

"When he stepped out of the vehicle and police said they were going to do a search he then took the opportunity that presented itself."

Refusing bail, however, District Judge Amanda Brady cited the potential risk of reoffending.

She said: "He was found sitting in a car that when searched appeared to have a very substantial amount of Class A drugs." 

Mr Patton was remanded in custody to appear again on 3 February.