TWO men were last night starting three-year jail sentences after police swooped on a car following a drugs run to London.

Cocaine courier Louis Mc- Quade was picked up at Darlington train station by friend Marc Gofton on his return from a day-trip to the capital.

Police stopped Gofton’s car near Durham Tees Valley Airport and found a rucksack stuffed with Class A drugs worth as much as £304,000.

A search of Gofton’s home in Middlesbrough unearthed more cocaine with a potential street value of £96,000, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Scaffolder Gofton, 24, admitted two charges of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply and 26-year-old McQuade admitted one count.

Lesley Kirkup, prosecuting, told the court that McQuade travelled to London on January 12 and returned on an afternoon train to Darlington.

He was captured by closedcircuit television cameras leaving the station with a red rucksack and getting into Gofton’s Volkswagen Golf.

In his police interview, Gofton said he was looking after the drugs in his home to settle an £800 debt he had run up with his dealer.

McQuade refused to answer questions, but his barrister, John Gillette, said yesterday that he agreed to be “the bag man” after losing his offshore job.

“He made the stupid decision to involve himself in something like this for the first time, effectively for about a month’s rent,” said Mr Gillette.

Graeme Gaston, for Gofton, told Judge Peter Armstrong: “He was behaving in a naive way rather than a cynical and calculating way.

“This was out of character and he is unlikely to behave in this way again, given it has brought only distress and misery to himself and his family.”

The court heard that the drugs brought from London – nearly 1kg of high-purity cocaine – were destined for the streets of the North-East.

Judge Armstrong read letters from both defendants and references from peers and past employers, which described them as hard-working.

He said they had been foolish and naive, but told them their involvement allowed dealers higher up the chain to evade capture.

Gofton, of Springwalk, Ormesby, has a commendation from a different judge for helping in a robbery trial as a witness when he was younger.

McQuade, of Ainsford Way, Spencerbeck, will take an Open University course while he serves his sentence.