A COUPLE were stopped by police carrying so much smuggled tobacco in their van that it was sitting low down on its axles, a court heard.

Kevin Worton was jailed for nine months after being caught with 625 kilograms of tobacco by officers on the A38 at Plympton.

Plymouth Crown Court heard the tobacco had been brought into the country without payment of the required £72,224 in duty.

Judge Francis Gilbert said that Worton and his wife Alison had driven from their Birmingham home to the port of Folkestone in Kent and picked up the tobacco, which they then intended to pass on to a man in Plymouth for distribution.

He gave his wife sentences amounting to nine months, but suspended the term for two years.

Worton, 54, of Oldbury in Birmingham, admitted two charges of harbouring or dealing in prohibited goods in October 2007.

His wife, aged 53, denied the offences but was convicted after a trial.

The charges relate to the 625kgs of Golden Virginia, and also 10kgs of Cutter's Choice tobacco which was found in their home.

Judge Gilbert told Worton that he rejected his story that he was acting only as a courier. He added: "You were stopped in a van on the A38 which was so full of tobacco that it was down on its axles."

Philip Brunt, defending the couple, said: "I would question what custody would do for Mr Worton, his family and the public."