Eighteen-month prison sentence for cannabis dealer

Street value of more than £120,000 found at property

A Douglas man who had thousands of pounds worth of cannabis at his home has been jailed for 18 months.

Fifty-year-old Frank John Thomas, of Hillside Avenue, appeared for sentencing before Deemster Alastair Montgomerie at a Court of General Gaol Delivery.

The court heard officers had gone to search his house on the afternoon of December 23 last year.

Thomas showed officers cannabis bush and resin he had stashed behind the kickboard of a kitchen cupboard.

There was just over 265g of resin, valued at £1,405, and 269g of bush, valued at between £2,184 and £2,659.

Officers then recovered a suitcase from the lounge, containing 9,640g of cannabis bush, with a street value of between £87,440 and £120,225.

The case also contained £6,145 in cash.

Thomas told officers he had been pressured into holding the suitcase for someone, having run up drug debts, and wouldn't have sold any of it.

The prosecution said Thomas had a string of previous convictions for possessing cannabis, and one for dealing the drug, for which he had been sent to prison in 2006.

This time, Thomas was sentenced to 18 months for possessing cannabis bush with intent to supply, three months for possessing cannabis bush and three months for possessing cannabis resin.

The sentences will run concurrently.