THOUSANDS of illegal pills destined for Scotland were found in the locker of a jailed Oxford engineer.

Glen Hodgetts, pictured, of Kingfisher Grove, Wantage, is already serving a 21-month sentence in HMP Bullingdon for slashing a teenager with a knife and assaulting a woman.

But Jonathan Stone, prosecuting at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday, said while the 47-year-old was in prison 12,500 Phenazepam pills were found in his locker at butchers Muchmeats in Witney, where he had previously worked.

The barrister said the Class C drug, which was banned in the UK in 2012 and has effects similar to ketamine, could be worth up to £1 per tablet when sold on the street.

He said the drugs were discovered on January 2 this year alongside a stash of cannabis worth as much as £4,500.

Mr Stone explained that police experts estimated the total value of the drugs seized could be as much as £17,000.

He added that Hodgetts told them he had received the package containing the drugs from the Far East and had intended to send it on to Edinburgh in Scotland.

The case had to be adjourned on Thursday prior to sentencing to determine the weight and purity of the tablets.

Hodgetts, who has admitted possessing both drugs with intent to supply, will be sentenced on January 30.