A DELIVERY driver has been spared jail after police found more than 72,000 illegal cigarettes at his home.

Robert Shaw, 55, of Buckthorn Crescent, Norton was found storing cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco worth £27,927,77.

Police found 5,080 cigarettes and 1.85 kilos hand-rolling tobacco in his Audi and a search of his house uncovered a further 72,420 cigarettes and 15 kilos hand-rolling tobacco in the garage.

Shaw admitted excise fraud at Teesside Crown Court and was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for 12 months. He was also made subject to a four-month curfew.

A HMRC spokesperson said: “This was a deliberate attempt to defraud taxpayers and put illegal cigarettes on the streets."

Anyone with information about the illegal sale of tobacco should call 0800-788887.