A father of two has been handed a suspended sentence for possessing cocaine and heroin in the house where his children were sleeping.

The 37-year-old Douglas man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted the two counts of possession of drugs as well as two counts of wilful child neglect.

He was sentenced to a total of 18 weeks’ custody, suspended for two years.

The drugs were found in the house where his children, aged four and seven were sleeping.

Tools were also found left out in the house as well as a BB gun.

Defence advocate Jane Gray said that her client had come to the island in 2004 and married.

’His marriage broke down and emotionally it was a very difficult time.

’He made the catastrophic decision to fill that gap with taking drugs such as heroin.

’He later became addicted and it ended up affecting his whole life. He says he lost people around him and his only associates were other drug users.

’He realised this couldn’t continue in May 2017 and sought to register with the Drug and Alcohol Team. But he was unable at that time to give up his addiction and continued taking drugs.’

Ms Gray said that the man was taking part in a methadone withdrawal programme which he had been sticking to.

’The mother of the children says they think the world of him,’ said the advocate.

’Clearly he did not set out to put his children at risk. He was in possession of £20 worth of heroin and £17 worth of cocaine and did submit a guilty plea at an early stage.

’He was a man of good character which unfortunately he has now lost.

’He took class A drugs while he had children in his care, exposed them to controlled drugs and paraphernalia. He collected them that day, went to McDonald’s then put them to bed.

’The tools were left out as he had been in the middle of doing maintenance from the day before. Had he been thinking clearly he would have put those things away.’

Ms Gray went on to say that should a custodial sentence be imposed her client would be at risk of losing his job.

Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes said while passing sentence: ’I accept your remorse is genuine and there was no intent to neglect wilfully. Nonetheless you exposed your children to controlled drugs, tools and a BB gun.

’You are described as a "caring" and "inclusive" father and have now taken steps to address your drug misuse. I am satisfied the custody threshold has been passed but there are grounds to suspend the sentence.’

sentenced

The man was sentenced to 10 weeks’ custody for each count of child neglect, and eight weeks for each drug offence, to run concurrently to each other but consecutively to the neglect charges.

He was also ordered to pay £125 prosecution costs.