A man who ordered cannabis online has been handed a suspended sentence.

Paul Shimmin, of Alder Road, Douglas, previously admitted being unlawfully concerned in producing (importing) cannabis to the Isle of Man on September 30.

Prosecutor Barry Swain told the court staff at the sorting office called police after finding a parcel addressed to Shimmin which smelled strongly of cannabis.

Inside officers found 55.4g of the class B drug, with a street value of £1,108.

During a police interview, the 40-year-old admitted he had bought the cannabis online as he had struggled since losing his engineering job due to the Covid-19 pandemic and it helped his mood. There was no evidence Shimmin is involved in selling to anyone else.

Mr Swain said Shimmin was ’remorseful’ in his interview and ’apologised to officers several times’

He added that because of the pandemic Shimmin had ’lost the job he loved’.

Defence advocate Kate Alexander said it was an ’unfortunate’ situation for Shimmin and repeated Mr Swain’s statement that he regrets his decision.

Deemster Graeme Cook said it was ’clear to me that the loss of his job has had a massive impact on him’ and offered an ’explanation’ as to why he had bought cannabis online. However, he added that Shimmin had been ’foolish’.

He also noted that several people had provided ’excellent’ references for Shimmin.

Deemster Cook sentenced Shimmin to four months in prison, suspended for 12 months. He added: ’Please do not come back before me.’