Pair who were arrested for drugs offences after getting off ferry from Scotland are sentenced

Judge Patricia Smyth told Daniel Raymond Dunlop and Rory O’Connor “it is because of people knowingly involving themselves in the drugs trade that our children are dying in the street”.

Dunlop, 32, O’Connor,27, and a third man who was not before the court travelled to Scotland on the Stena ferry on October 30, 2015. The third man, Samuel Boyd, 42, will be sentenced next week.

Belfast Crown Court heard that Dunlop and Boyd travelled to Scotland to arrange the supply of cocaine and cannabis to Northern Ireland, while O’Connor played a “lesser” role in the operation by encouraging or assisting Dunlop and Boyd in a number of drugs offences.

Whilst in Scotland, the trio travelled to Glasgow, where Dunlop and Boyd involved themselves in posting two packages containing drugs to an address in NI.

One package contained 117 grams of cocaine with an 8% purity, while the second contained 966 grams of herbal cannabis. Both packages were intercepted, while the car with all three men on board was stopped on their return journey later that day at the ferry terminal in Belfast.

After an investigation it emerged that Boyd was linked to a Post Office in Glasgow via CCTV, while Dunlop’s phone was examined and provided evidence involving drugs.

While Boyd and Dunlop both pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of Class A and B drugs, O’Connor admitted a charge of encouraging or assisting offenders.

During sentencing, Judge Smyth told O’Connor, from Lynn Doyle Place, Downpatrick, his guilty plea indicated he knew the others were travelling to Scotland for drugs.

Judge Smyth told Dunlop, a father of one from Great Victoria Street in Belfast, she was going to reduce his sentence due to the time taken for the case to come to court, and his “progress in terms of rehabilitation”.

Judge Smyth handed Dunlop a 20-month sentence, ten months in custody and ten on licence. She told O’Connor whilst there was “no doubt you knowingly took part” in the operations, his role was a lesser one. He was handed a 12-month sentence, suspended for three years.