Newtownabbey man accused of fleeing from car with £100,000 of cocaine inside loses release bid

A man who allegedly fled from a locked car containing £100,000 worth of cocaine has failed in a legal bid to be released from custody. Daryl Patton was refused bail on drugs charges connected to the seizure made by police carrying out checks in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim. The 37-year-old denied knowing anything about the consignment and claimed he was only parked up at the Mallusk Playing Fields to relax and watch YouTube videos.

Patton, of Dorchester Avenue in Newtownabbey, is accused of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply, obstruction and using a motor vehicle without insurance. Police encountered him sitting in a Volkswagen Passat on December 30 last year. A previous court heard he initially claimed to be surfing the web, then said he was meeting a friend, before explaining that he was going to a nearby relative’s house. At first he declined to get out of the car, according to police, but eventually exited and locked the vehicle before running off across the fields. Officers gave chase but were unable to detain him. Police then broke into the car through a window and seized two large blocks of cocaine with an estimated street value of £100,000 from the passenger area. Patton handed himself in at a PSNI station five days later and provided a statement denying any involvement with the drugs. He told police that he drove to the playing fields to relax and watch some Youtube videos as his mental health was not good and he had been fed up staying in the house over Christmas. At Belfast Magistrates’ Court today a detective confirmed that both seized blocks contained high purity cocaine. It was also revealed that DNA tests on the consignment have identified a second suspect who is yet to be arrested. Opposing Patton’s application for bail, the detective claimed he failed to cooperate at any stage in the investigation. “He locked the car, refused to allow access to it, ran off from police and could not be located for five days,” the detective added. Defence barrister Richard McConkey argued that his client should be released due to the passage of time since his arrest. Bail was denied again, however, on the grounds of risk of re-offending and interference with the investigation. District Judge Steven Keown ruled: “Those concerns remain very much the same and valid.”

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