A Pulrose man has been jailed for 30 weeks for possessing heroin he said he was using to get over the death of his dog.

Kevin Hughes, of Heather Crescent, was sentenced to 14 weeks for possessing drugs and a further 16 weeks for breaching the terms of a previous sentence which he had been released early from.

We previously reported how 51-year-old Hughes was stopped in his car in Pulrose on December 30.

Police suspected that he was concealing drugs internally and he was taken to Noble’s Hospital but refused to be examined.

He later produced a plastic bag while going to the toilet which was found to contain three different substances, including 3.5 grams of powder which proved in part to be heroin, valued at £350.

The other drugs were identified as 911 milligrams of buprenorphine, a class C drug, plus fragments of diazepam.

Hughes said that he bought the drugs to overcome grief over the death of his dog but the package kept falling out of his pockets so he put it between his buttocks.

The court heard that Hughes was jailed in 2011 for seven years for drug-related offences but released on licence in 2014.

Defending Hughes, advocate Winston Taylor said: ’At the time he was in a mess. He was looking after his parents, his dog was dying and he decided foolishly to distance himself from what was going on. He didn’t want to associate with old drug taking colleagues but contacted a friend who could obtain synthetic drugs on the internet. He didn’t know if it was legal or not and only intended using it for a couple of days. The drugs were never inside his body, they were in the creases of his bum cheeks.’

Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes said: ’Your actions made it difficult to retrieve the substance. You could have saved hospital and police time.’