A man who threw £300,000 worth of ecstasy tablets out of a BMW while being pursued by the Garda drug squad was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment yesterday.
Mark Peyton of Ard na Greine, Ballyvolane, Cork, was charged with possession of the ecstasy tablets on March 30th last.
Det Supt Jim O'Callaghan told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that Peyton was spotted in the Gurranabraher area of Cork.
He was signalled to stop by gardai but drove away.
He was pursued by squad cars and during the chase threw a sports bag out of the window of his car, which was later retrieved. He drove at speeds up to 100 miles an hour before crashing into a Garda jeep at the top of Fair Hill in the city.
Det Supt Callaghan said Peyton claimed he had collected the drugs from the car-park at the Fox 'n' Hounds pub in Ballyvolane and was being paid £1,000 to deliver them to the car-park at the Anglers' Rest pub outside the city.
He said he believed Peyton had worked as a distributor for a major drug gang on the continent and had a cocaine habit.
Judge A.G. Murphy said the sale of ecstasy tablets has done "untold damage" to young people.
Peyton said he felt "guilty and ashamed" and that he appreciated the damage he caused. He added he was getting treatment from a private drug rehabilitation centre in Portarlington.
Judge Murphy said it was "a disgrace to society and a failure of the prison system" that there was no reasonable treatment available to Peyton in prison.
He praised the work carried out in the drug rehabilitation centre in Portarlington but was critical of the possible risk of "exposure to drugs" within the prison system.
He strongly recommended some "provision be made for prisoners who genuinely wanted to be rehabilitated".
He said courses such as those Peyton had attended should be made available and these offenders not sentenced to prison.