A BARRISTER read the lyrics to the Shaggy hit It Wasn’t Me during his closing speech in a £1.3m drugs conspiracy trial.

Michael Roques, prosecuting, told the jury Shorne Ross had been caught “red-handed”, just like the cheating boyfriend in the 2000 pop song.

The 42-year-old denies being part of a conspiracy to supply class-A drugs on March 10 this year, when he was arrested at the wheel of a van carrying 13kg of cocaine and 2kg of heroin.

Mr Roques said the drugs were heading back to Oxford where the conspiracy was based, and had been brought into the country in a Dutch paper lorry.

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The barrister said Ross, of Rothersthope near Northampton, was caught on tape after a police bugging operation discussing heroin with his “boss”, convicted drug dealer Martin Gray.

He said: “The prosecution say that this defendant, notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence in this case, is simply saying ‘it wasn’t me’.

“And I can say until I’m blue in the face ‘it was you, we’ve got you on tape’ and he still says ‘it wasn’t me’.”

But defence barrister Zaki Hashmi said his client had been lied to and treated like a “mug” by Gray, of Randolph Avenue, Woodstock, and his associates, who told him they were importing cigarettes.

He said: “These people who lie so frequently are perfectly capable of lying to Mr Ross.”

The trial continues.

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