A HARD-UP delivery driver was spotted by detectives delivering cocaine at a remote Marlborough drop-off point.

When Ilir Hysa was stopped by police last month he tried to jettison around £2,000 of drugs.

He claimed he had turned to couriering drugs after losing jobs in a car wash and as a delivery driver. The 47-year-old said he had been vehemently opposed to drugs.

Jailing him for 28 months at Swindon Crown Court, Judge Jason Taylor QC acknowledged Hysa had fallen on hard times.

But he said: “That cannot be an excuse for peddling class A drugs which you know from your previous opposition to them leave a trail of destruction and carnage in their wake.”

Prosecutor Tessa Hingston said police were keeping a house on Forest Hill, near Marlborough, under surveillance as they suspected it was being used as a drop-off point by gangs selling class A drugs.

The officers’ attention was drawn in particular to a VW Passatt driven to the home by a man described as man with a bald head.

That man was seen getting out of his car, approach a parked Vauxhall and leave something on the drivers’ side of the vehicle. A woman came from the house and retrieved the package.

Analysis of traffic cameras revealed the Passatt had been making regular trips from the Thames Valley area to Marlborough between December and January. The car was insured in Hysa’s name.

Hysa, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cocaine.

John Upton, defending, said his client was a joint Italian-Albanian national and had come to the UK around two-and-a-half years ago. He had been working as a delivery driver and in a car wash but had lost both jobs at the end of last year.

He had also lost his driving licence and had to return to Italy to renew it. With a weekly rent in London of £300 his bills were mounting so he turned to couriering drugs in order to survive. Mr Upton said Hysa was a man of previous good character.