A WILTSHIRE man who was caught importing ecstasy from Europe has been jailed for two years and four months.

Joseph Bailey went on the dark web to anonymously source the drug from The Netherlands, paying for it with untraceable online currency Bitcoin.

But the 27-year-old was caught out when one of the packages, which were addressed to him, was spotted after arriving in the UK on a freight plane.

Tessa Hingston, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how a package from the Netherlands was intercepted at Heathrow.

She said the envelope was found to contain 50 pink and blue tablets and a crystalline substance.

When the pills and powder were examined they were both found to be MDMA, the chemical term for ecstasy, with a street value of almost £400.

“As a result of these items being seized, officers attended his address in Stanton St Quintin and he was arrested,” she said.

At the house they found two bags containing a small amount of cannabis along with £140 in cash, an iPhone and a computer.

They also found a number of similar envelopes from the Netherlands which were identical to the one they had seized.

On examining the phone, officers found a photo of him standing next to a cannabis plant as well as a variety of text messages.

In one message he was if asked he has ‘any pills to sell’, to which he replies that he has, ‘but they are £10 each’.

Miss Hingston said when questioned, he said he had no idea why the drugs were being sent to him saying he had only bought vinyl records from Europe.

Bailey, of Court Gardens, Stanton St Quintin, pleaded guilty to importing class A drugs and possessing cannabis. Guy Draper, defending, said that it had been an ‘extremely unsophisticated’ operation importing drugs.

“He sought, through the dark web with the assistance of Bitcoin currency, to buy them anonymously,” he said.

“But he had them delivered to his home address in his own name. It goes some way to demonstrate the nature of this activity.”

He said that the messages found on the phone were from a long time ago when he would share pills with friends after he started using them to deal with his anxiety.

Being caught was a turning point for Joseph who is now clean of drugs, working with his father and in a relationship.

Jailing him, judge Tim Mousley QC said: “The offence is so serious that there has to be a custodial sentence. This was unsophisticated. It can’t just be dismissed as an error of judgement, I don’t accept that.”