Surgeons found £350-worth of heroin and crack cocaine nestled between their patient’s buttocks as they battled to save his life, a court heard.

Abingdon man Peter Quinn, 28, was rushed to Poole Hospital after being stabbed in a fight between his two friends, who were armed with wheelie bins, and six ‘travellers’ near Bournemouth beach.

Giving evidence to jurors at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday afternoon, Quinn claimed he’d picked up the cling-film wrapped package of class A drugs after seeing it drop to the floor during the brawl.

He stashed the parcel of what turned out to be 36 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine in between his buttocks ‘to keep them safe’, the court was told.

The jury heard the part-time labourer, who spent up to £360 a week on a powder cocaine habit, had travelled from his mum’s home in Abingdon to Bournemouth by train on July 6, 2019, with two friends.

They arrived at the south coast at around lunchtime, bought a bottle of Grey Goose vodka and headed to the beach. The trio got something to eat at Caribbean restaurant Turtle Bay before buying another bottle of vodka and returning to the beach.

Quinn said they had exchanged words with a group of six men, described as ‘travellers’, before going back to the beach for another drink.

They were down at the beach for around 45 minutes and when they returned found the other group blocking their path, jurors were told.

Quinn said: “I was drunk. I started saying I knew their family and certain things I shouldn’t have done.”

A fight ensued in which Quinn’s two friends grabbed wheelie bins to defend themselves. The defendant, who admitted he was ‘drunk out of my head’, said he saw a member of the other group drop a parcel of what he thought might be cocaine or cannabis. He picked it up and put it in between his buttocks ‘to keep them safe’.

He felt a pain in his side but did not immediately realise he had been stabbed. The group of six fled as Quinn called the ambulance service then passed out.

He woke up in Poole hospital, having been rushed into surgery. He claimed he’d ‘died twice’ on the operating table.

The jury was told surgeons had turned Quinn over while they were working on him and found the package of drugs stashed in between buttocks. Their patient, who did not want to report the stabbing to police, was arrested a year later in connection with the cling-film wrapped package. The drug wrappings were not DNA or fingerprint tested.

Defence barrister Julian Lynch quizzed his client: “Were you in Bournemouth dealing drugs that day?”

“No,” Quinn replied.

“Were those drugs between your buttocks for sale?” Mr Lynch asked. Quinn, who in 2017 was sentenced for selling cannabis to a friend in Oxford city centre, said they were not.

Under cross-examination from prosecutor Robert Levack the defendant denied his account was a ‘fabrication’. “It’s not a story,” he said.

Quinn, of Caldecott Road, Abingdon, denies possession with intent to supply class A drugs. The trial continues.

 

File image of Bournemouth beach and pier Picture: Richard Crease

File image of Bournemouth beach and pier Picture: Richard Crease

 

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