Police decided to stop man and woman on M62 after becoming suspicious - it was a good call

Drug dealers were stopped by cops on the M62 - before a kilo of cocaine and almost £35,000 was found. The couriers were on a five-hour, 260-mile round trip to Durham to pick up the drugs.

Marie Woodward, 40, from Wigan, was at the wheel of a Seat Ibiza. Beside her in the passenger seat was Marcus Thompson, 47, a father-of-four from Hulme.

Cops in an unmarked patrol vehicle became suspicious as the car headed westbound towards Manchester on the M62 near Saddleworth Moor just after midnight in July 2021.

When the car was pulled over, beside Thompson was a rucksack. He claimed it contained clothes but a search uncovered nearly £35,000 in cash, prosecutor Benjamin Whittingham told Manchester Crown Court.

On the rear passenger seat was a Sainsburys carrier bag containing a block wrapped in clingfilm. Analysis later showed it was 997 grams of high-purity cocaine.

The sat nav on Woodward's iPhone suggested the pair were on their way to an address in Hyde. Analysis of phone data revealed they had been in touch with another dealer named 'Simon', the prosecutor told the court. The three were part of a drugs gang which used Wickr, an end-to-end encrypted communications app, with other users named 'Mango1983' and 'GoGetItIn', the court heard.

One message read: "We said 2-250 a job so you owe me for yesterday and then whatever for today." Woodward wrote in another message: "I've had to go chemist when I got to Wigan then Manchester I'm saying way to much in my texts if police ever take my phone I'm done for."

When she was interviewed by police, Woodward said she was 'directed' by someone called Simon to collect her passenger, Thompson, who she said she didn't know, from an address in Wythenshawe. In another message, 'Simon', wrote