A DECORATED Paralympian has been jailed for nearly two years for his role in a conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

World-record holder Anthony Griffin won a total of 38 medals in the 1970s and 1980s, competing in various events including powerlifting. 

But Griffin is starting a 22-month prison sentence today alongside a man and woman after they were found with drugs worth thousands of pounds.

A court heard they were involved in a conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine in the Barrow area.

Griffin, of Duncombe Road, Bolton, 62, acted as the driver in the operation.

Griffin carried the Olympic Torch in the run-up to the London games in 2012 and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science in 2015 by the University of Bolton for his Sporting and Community achievements.

The former sportsman, who was born with cerebral palsy, received a British Empire Medal from the Queen for services to sport, charity and the community in Bolton in 2019.

He admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine and possession with intent to supply the class A drugs.

Griffin was stopped in a BMW in south Cumbria alongside co-defendants Tracie Barnes and Sean Burton.

The court heard how, on the afternoon of July 25 2022 a police officer spotted Burton acting suspiciously and getting into the BMW in Raglan Court in Barrow.

The car was subsequently stopped on the A590 near Witherslack – around 10 miles from junction 36 of the M6.

The three defendants were in the car, with Griffin in the driver’s seat.

Officers searched the car and the occupants. In the front passenger door pocket, by where Burton was sitting, £1,500 in cash was recovered.

In the footwell where Burton was sitting was a bag containing 30 individual wraps of heroin.

In the footwell where Barnes was sitting, officers found a bag containing 19 individual wraps of heroin, another bag containing 30 wraps of heroin and a single wrap of crack cocaine.

Also recovered was a single wrap of brown powder and a quantity of cannabis.

The overall amount of Class A drugs recovered from the vehicle amounted to 68.6 grams, with an estimated street value of between £3,000 and £6,000.

In addition to the drugs, officers recovered two phones from Burton’s possession. Investigation of one of the phones should it was used almost exclusively to send out bulk messages advertising the sale of heroin and crack cocaine.

A phone recovered from Barnes showed messages between the three occupants of the car arranging the trip to Barrow, for which Griffin would be paid £100 as driver.

A phone recovered from Griffin showed he had travelled multiple times to Wolverhampton to collect Burton from Wolverhampton and take him to Liverpool, for which he was paid £250 per trip.

It also showed he was purchasing crack cocaine for Barnes and allowing Burton to stay over at his home address.

A knife was also recovered from the vehicle.

Burton, 19, of Leasowes Drive, Wolverhampton admitted possession with intent to supply heroin and crack cocaine. He also admitted possession of a knife.

He was sentenced to two years in prison.

Tracie Barnes, 42, of Thistleton Road, Bolton, admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine and was sentenced to 25 months in prison.