Falklands veteran spared jail over £800,000 cocaine 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 caught by police in June 2025.

The 64-year-old from Motherwell was stopped in a Volvo on the A74(M) near Ecclefechan and 10 blocks of high purity cocaine were found in the boot.

At the High Court in Glasgow, Lord Scott told Shaw a jail term was "certainly appropriate" but instead gave him 300 hours of unpaid work. He will also be supervised for a year.

He had earlier pleaded 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 to organise shipments of millions of counterfeit cigarettes in HGVs disguised to make it look like the trucks were carrying frozen food.

Lord Scott told him: "It is an unfortunate, but unavoidable conclusion that whatever pressures you felt, it was 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."

However, Shaw was warned that if he breached the order he would return to court.

The court previously heard that when he was halted by police in southern Scotland, he admitted: "I have 10 bits in the boot."

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

A man was said to have initially contacted Shaw on WhatsApp and told him to go to England.

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.

He was deemed to be a low risk of re-offending.

A number of written testimonials in support of Shaw were also given for Lord Scott to consider.