Police make surprise discovery in nappy after dad found collapsed in Pepe's Piri Piri

Yahoo

27-05-2025

Police discovered cocaine hidden inside a nappy after finding a dad unconscious at a chicken shop. Up to £7,500 of the class A drug was seized from Steven Magee after he was found collapsed at Pepe's Piri Piri at Halewood Shopping Centre.
The dad to a three-year-old child was said to have resorted to dealing having racked up massive debts from his use of illicit substances, which saw him "blow" £9,000 of redundancy pay on his addiction. His mum was left in tears today as he was locked up in spite of his "resolution to getting off the cocaine".
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Tuesday that Merseyside Police were called to the takeaway on Leathers Lane shortly after 6pm on June 10 last year after Magee was found lying unconscious on the floor, having suffered a suspected "medical episode". When officers searched his person in order to establish whether the 36-year-old, of Mansell Drive in Halewood, was carrying any medication, they instead discovered £500 in cash and 55g of cocaine at 82% purity, drugs worth between £1,600 and £5,580.
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Iain Criddle, prosecuting, detailed how PCs then visited his home address to "inform his next of kin" of the incident and spoke to his mum. She was described as "appearing worried" and "trying to conceal something", after which a further 19.3g of cocaine, valued at £772 to £1,930, was found hidden inside a nappy.
Several phones and tick lists were also seized from the property, while traces of white powder were noted on a "child's plate". Under interview, Magee told detectives his "mother was not involved".
Julian Nutter, defending, told the court: "His parents are in court today, and they are very respectable people who have watched their son become an addict of cocaine. He managed to blow £9,000 of redundancy money in lockdown.
"At the time, his mother was horrified and did what any mother would do to try to help her son. After all of this happened and the dust had settled, his mother and father settled upon getting him off his addiction. Initially, he was shut in a room and had to come off it the hard way.
"This case is relatively old. What many individuals who are awaiting punishment do is nothing at all, putting it out of their minds and making no effort to improve themselves. He has applied a resolution to getting off the cocaine.
"His mother has dipped into her savings and paid off the debt that lies behind this. All of that is positive. One of the reasons that such positive action has been taken is that there is a young child, who is just over three years old.
"He has no previous convictions for drug trafficking offences. He is also epileptic. His epilepsy is made far worse by stress. He has been having an increasing number of fits with this hearing getting closer. He is not in a particularly good place.
"He has spent the past 11 months or so rehabilitating himself. It has been a wake up call. In my respectful submission, in the exceptional circumstances of this case, it is not too late and there is room here to take an exceptional course and suspend the sentence of imprisonment."
Magee admitted possession of cocaine with intent to supply. Appearing in the dock wearing a white shirt and sporting short brown hair, he was jailed for 30 months.
His mum was seen wiping away tears with a tissue in the public gallery and holding hands with her partner as her son was told he would receive an immediate prison term. Sentencing, Recorder Richard Pratt KC said: "Although you have previous convictions involving the possession of drugs, you have no convictions for drug trafficking.
"You are the son of excellent parents who have done everything they can to cope with your deteriorating drug addiction. I note that you are a carer to a three-year-old child. It is to your credit that you have kept out of trouble since June 2024 and you have done much to rid yourself of your terrible addiction to cocaine.
"You, more than anybody else in this courtroom, well know the perils of cocaine addiction. That is why the court must punish those involved in the supply of it.
"This was by no means the smallest of operations, but it is in the context of street dealing. I bear in mind that you became involved because you were placed under financial pressure by those above you in the hierarchy."