Court /

Trio from England admit taking over £11k of cocaine to Shetland

9 July 2026 08:46

THREE young people from England have admitted bringing thousands of pounds worth of cocaine to Shetland last year.

The value of the cocaine would have been around £11,860 if it was sold as seen, procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie told Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

However if it was broken down into small deals it could have raised around £41,130, he said.

Malachai Blackhurst, from Manchester, Ellie Walker and Rhys Burke, both from Denton, all pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of the class A drug on 19 November 2025.

The trio were caught with 336g of cocaine after being stopped by police acting on intelligence at the Holmsgarth ferry terminal in Lerwick.

The three were taken to Lerwick police station to be searched, and all produced a number of packages.

They were all “internally concealing” these packages, Mackenzie said, and police had to wait for them to be produced.

Blackhurst, 24, had four packages, while 23 year old Walker had three packages, and Burke, 22, had two.

Sentence was deferred for the preparation of criminal justice social work reports. They will return for sentencing on 2 September.

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