A MAN from Liverpool will spend nearly five years in prison after he was caught transporting almost 4kg of ecstasy from the North of England to South Wales.

Liam Masher, 31, was caught by police in July of this year when they saw him trying to destroy his phone as he was driving his VW Golf on the M50 motorway near Ross-on-Wye.

Newport Crown Court heard today, on November 15, that when police pulled Masher over, they found 3.87kg of MDMA hidden in a laptop bag under the passenger seat of his car.

Prosecutor Byron Broadstock said the ecstasy (MDMA) is estimated to be worth £32,000 and would be significantly more when being sold at street level.

The court heard that Masher was a "trusted operative within the chain who played a significant role in drugs supply" through being a "courier" of the Class A drugs, and that he holds one previous conviction from 2011 that is unrelated.

Acting in Masher's defence, Martha Smith-Higgins said Masher has had a "fall from grace" in recent years, having turned to drugs and alcohol while feeling stressed out by his job as a lead telecoms engineer.

Masher also began collecting significant debts from gambling, alongside his substance abuse.

It was heard that him taking on the courier role for the "evil Liverpool drugs gang" was through a "desperation for money."

Judge Simon Mills said: "You are only going to be caught in South Wales with 4kg worth of MDMA if you are couriering it."

"At a time in your life where you had fallen to a low, through drug use and gambling, you became prey to a criminal gang from your home near Liverpool.

"It is impossible to calculate the harm of Class A drugs, especially those being sold at street level, mainly to young people who use it when they thing they are socialising, but are in fact ruining their lives.

"Being a courier is an essential part of the process and you were trusted by that evil drugs gang to deliver the drugs, for at the end of the day, a wage that will be no where near their street value.

"You plainly had some awareness and understanding of the scale of the operation.

"I hope that giving you a period in custody will dissuade other people like yourself who may feel inclined to do this in the future."

Considering that Masher was "capable of living a decent life" and that "the remorse shown seems genuine," he was sentenced to 56 months in prison and fined £228.