A man found with more than £2,300 worth of cocaine in his flat has been jailed.

Paul Westhead was described as being at the bottom of the food chain - and told police he had agreed to receive the class A drug as payment for his use of the flat.

The 56-year-old pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing cocaine with intent to supply at an earlier hearing and was sentenced by Deemster Graeme Cook last week.

On November 29, at 7.45am, police executed a search warrant at Westhead’s home in Falcon Cliff Place, Douglas.

Upon entering, they found him in the kitchen. Officers said there was an open package of white powder on the table and he appeared to have some on his face.

Prosecutor Hazel Carroon said another man, not before the court, was also in the flat with a wet sleeve, which police believed was caused by him secreting a mobile phone in a toilet *-bend.

During the search, seven further packages were found on a window sill and weighing scales were found on the ground below the flat. It is believed the scales had been thrown out of the window.

Officers also found £3,980 in a safe along with several mobile phones and SIM cards.

Street value

Ms Carroon said tests showed the bags contained 22g of the class A drug cocaine, with a street value of £2,200. The open package had 1.4g of cocaine, with a value of £140.

Westhead declined legal representation and remained silent during police interview, except for telling officers the money came from the closure of his scaffolding business RSS and a whiplash claim.

He said he kept the money in his safe as he has no bank account and later told officers he had ’no knowledge’ of the drugs in his property and refused to provide a passcode for the phones.

In a plea statement read out in court, Westhead admitted being in possession of cocaine with intent to supply and that he had agreed for it to be stored at his flat.

But he said that he did not arrange for the drugs to be brought to the island nor did he have any knowledge of how it came to the island.

He said he had no involvement in cutting or selling it and had agreed to receive cocaine as payment for the use of his flat.

He added that he had been taking cocaine for two years due to personal difficulties.

Harsh sentences

Deemster Cook told Westhead: ’The older you get, the wiser you should get.’

He added that for people found with Class A drugs in the Isle of Man ’harsh sentences have been approved’.

Defence advocate Louise Cooil said her client ’very much holds his hands up’ and was not seeking to blame others for finding himself before the court. She said he was concerned about the impact a jail sentence would have on his family.

Deemster Cook told Westhead: ’You should have known better, shouldn’t you?’

And he added: ’This is not drug supply on a commercial scale, you are very much at the bottom of the food chain.

’When you are released, move on with your life.’

He sentenced Westhead to four years and eight months in prison.