A convicted robber secretly stored thousands of pounds of heroin at his ex-partner’s home - where a children’s party was being held.

After police seized the drugs, Jamie Christopher Hall claimed he was threatened by his supplier to look after an even bigger consignment of heroin valued at up to £42,677 - which police found hidden by the base of a tree.

Hall, 29, was this week beginning a nine-year, nine-month jail term after admitting two offences of possessing the class A drug with intent to supply.

The Court of General Gaol Delivery heard that police were called by his ex-partner on November 11 last year to her home in central Douglas after she discovered a package she suspected to contain heroin.

Two weeks earlier, she had agreed to let him store some of his belongings at her home as he claimed he was being threatened with eviction.

Living at the property were Hall’s own daughter, who was seven at the time, and his ex’s four other children.

On Saturday, November 10, while his ex was at work, Hall called at the house for about 20 minutes and her daughter saw him with a black carrier bag which he put behind the sofa in the dining room.

That evening, 28 children were at the address for a house party, which finished about 10.30pm.

The next day Hall’s ex noticed some brown marks on the bathroom door and, concerned he had been taking heroin, she checked tin foil in the kitchen and found a piece had been ripped off.

Then looking inside his bagged-up belongings, she found black scales and a sausage-shaped parcel, wrapped in clingfilm, containing a brown powder she suspected to be heroin - and called the police.

Prosecutor Roger Kane told the court that officers found 38g of heroin, with a street value of between £4,750 and £9,500, in the bags which they took to police headquarters.

That evening, Hall called round to collect his belongings while his ex was out. Her daughter said he was ’stomping around and looked angry’.

Police subsequently arrested him at his new girlfriend’s address in Onchan. He was strip-searched and found to be hiding a white wrap between his buttocks and arrested on suspicion of possessing a class A substance.

But while on court bail, Hall agreed to store a further quantity of heroin.

footpath

On March 13 this year, police were called to a footpath near to the junction of Summerhill Road and Blackberry Lane, Onchan.

About 15m from the gated entrance to the path, officers spotted by the base of a tree what looked like a clear plastic tub wrapped inside a pale green nappy bag.

Inside were three plastic bags containing 170.71g of heroin with a street value of between £21,338 and £42,677.

Hall’s advocate Ian Kermode described the offence as ’lacking any form of sophistication’.

He said ’one thing had led to another’ and his client had received threats to look after the drugs, having not paid for the first batch of heroin that police had seized.

Mr Kermode read out a statement from his client which described how he had ’ruined my life in one big whirlwind of chaos. I can’t believe how it all came about.’

Jailing him for a total of nine years and nine months, Deemster Alastair Montgomerie said by leaving heroin in the Douglas address, Hall had put all the children at risk. ’It really doesn’t bear thinking about,’ he said.

The Deemster said he found it ’rather obscene’ that Hall’s motivation for selling heroin was to fund children’s presents. ’You used your ex-partner’s home to store your class A controlled drugs. You were using her property as a safe location in order to avoid detection,’ he said.

The second offence on March 13 this year was committed while Hall was on court bail and awaiting committal for trial for the first offence.

He had no previous convictions for drug offences but his latest crimes were committed after his release from jail and while still on licence for a 2017 robbery conviction relating to a raid on Newby’s newsagents in Douglas in 2015.

The court heard that Hall’s current girlfriend was prepared to stand by him.

The Deemster said Hall had committed the offences with ’no thought whatsoever’ for the consequences on his loved ones. ’They are all victims,’ he said. ’You should be disgusted with yourself.’

Hall, whose address was given in court as care of Isle of Man Prison, was a model prisoner who was making the most of his time inside to improve his education, the court heard.

Deemster Montgomerie jailed him for four years and three months for the first offence and five years and six months for the second, to run consecutively.

A further one-year jail term activated from his robbery offence will run concurrently.