A LOSTOCK Gralam man who grew magic mushrooms and cannabis at home tried to sneak drugs past airport customs disguised as tea.

Liam Lockett was rumbled when a postal package addressed to him was intercepted by Border Force officers at Heathrow Airport on August 3, last year.

Inside were three bags of cannabis weighing 44.2 grams in total, and a label claiming the contents were tea.

Border Force sent the package to Cheshire Police, who went to the 35-year-old’s Cedar Close home on August 29, and found cannabis plants, magic mushroom, and all the equipment needed to grow both drugs.

“I knew it was just a matter of time before I got caught,” he told the officer who arrested him at his home.

Lockett admitted to growing and possessing the drugs before Chester magistrates on June 18, but denied trying to slip the cannabis past Heathrow customs. 

His case was sent to Chester Crown Court on Tuesday, July 17, where he changed his plea to guilty at the first opportunity. 

Police say they’re satisfied the drugs were for personal use, describing him as ‘an enthusiastic amateur grower’, accepting he had no intention to passing them on to anyone else.

He was released on unconditional bail to return to Chester Crown Court for sentencing on Tuesday, August 27.