This Is England star Andrew Shim dodges jail in Spain after being caught with 75k of cannabis

THIS Is England star Andrew Shim has dodged jail in Spain after being caught with £75,000 of cannabis.

The actor, 37, was handed a suspended sentence after a court heard he struggles with drug addiction.

This Is England star Andrew Shim is on jail in Spain after being arrested on suspicion of trafficking drugs, it's reportedCredit: Getty He starred alongside Stephen Graham (L) and Thomas Turgoose (R) in the cult Shane Meadows film and TV seriesCredit: Twitter

He has been behind bars on remand at Alhaurin de la Torre prison near Malaga since getting arrested last year.

Shim striked a plea bargain deal with prosecutors on the day of his trial by admitting to one count of dug trafficking.

He was sentenced to three years and one day in prison.

Judge Monserrat Cortes Lopez suspended the jail term but warned Shim he would be hauled to prison if he offended at any time during the next five years.

A seven-page written sentence released on July 7 also described the star as a drug addict.

His addiction was a contributing factor in the judge’s decision to suspend his prison sentence as well as the fact he had no previous convictions in Spain.

Two Brit accomplices, Mattthew Adam Neale and Michael Regan, were also handed suspended jail sentences after admitting their role in the drugs plot smashed by Spanish police.

Shim and Regan were arrested on October 20 last year at a petrol station near the southern Spanish city of Granada after police stopped them and found cannabis worth £75,000 in their Mercedes van.

LET OFF DUE TO ADDICTION

Neal drove to a Shell petrol station just off the AP7 motorway running along the Costa del Sol in a hired Fiat Tipo where he met up with Shim and Regan.

The seven-page written sentence said: “After checking the inside of the UK-plated Mercedes Sprinter van the other two men had driven to the petrol station in, he got back inside his rented Fiat and using it at times as a look-out vehicle driving ahead of the Mercedes.

"He began heading towards a Repsol petrol station in Huetor Santillan in the province of Granada.

“There Spanish National Police stopped the van and identified its two occupants.

“Inside it during a search they found 119 packets of a substance that turned out to be cannabis with a net weight of 59,88 kilograms and a black market value of €88,655.

“Andrew Shim and Michael Regan have an addiction to drugs which limits their capacity to work within social parameters in force which make drug trafficking illegal.”

As well as being handed a suspended prison sentence, Shim was ordered to pay a fine totalling the black market value of the drugs seized - £75,000.

Shim, from Nottingham, is best known for his role as Milky in Shane Meadows' 2006 film This Is England and subsequent C4 TV series.

He starred alongside now Hollywood star Stephen Graham and Vicky McClure, who shot to fame in BBC cop show Line of Duty.

US-born Shim also won plaudits for his performances in Meadows's cult films A Room for Romeo Brass.

The actor is being held on remand at Alhaurin de la Torre prison near Malaga, it's claimed Shim, seen here with This Is England co-star Thomas Turgoose, was allegedly arrested last OctoberCredit: Getty Andrew Shim and Stephen Graham star in iconic This Is England scene as Combo and Milky

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