A RACEHORSE trainer has been jailed for six years after cocaine worth £4,400 was discovered in a garage belonging to his girlfriend.Drug squad officers found four ounces of the drug when they searched a garage in Valley Way, Newmarket and discovered Stephen Carney's fingerprints on glucose, baking powder and a “dealer's list”, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

A RACEHORSE trainer has been jailed for six years after cocaine worth £4,400 was discovered in a garage belonging to his girlfriend.

Drug squad officers found four ounces of the drug when they searched a garage in Valley Way, Newmarket and discovered Stephen Carney's fingerprints on glucose, baking powder and a “dealer's list”, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Carney, 54, of Hamilton Road, Newmarket, was due to stand trial in June for possessing cocaine with intent to supply but failed to attend.

His trial went ahead in his absence and he was found guilty by a jury after a hearing lasting three days.

Charles Myatt, prosecuting, told the court that Carney had been jailed for four years in 1993 for possessing cocaine, heroine, amphetamines and ecstasy tables with intent to supply.

Jailing Carney for six years, Judge David Goodin said a “significant quantity” of cocaine had been found in the garage.

David Pickersgill, for Carney, said his client had worked as an apprentice jockey but after failing to make it as a jockey he had become a stable manager and racehorse trainer.

He said his client had failed to attend his trial in June because he was worried about the outcome.

He had stayed in the Mildenhall area and had evaded detection by the police until he went to Dubai in early November and was arrested on the place as he returned to the UK.

Mr Pickersgill said that Carney denied his involvement in the offence before the court.

jane.hunt@eadt.co.uk