A man who tried to smuggle cannabis into the prison hidden in his back passage has been jailed for eight months.

Ross James Patrick McWhinnie, aged 34, was also sentenced to a further three months in prison for breaching early release terms of a 2011 sentence of eight years and four months for being concerned in the production of £30,000 worth of cocaine to the island.

Deemster Alastair Montgomerie said while passing sentence on Friday: ‘You are getting to the stage where you are spending more time in prison than you are outside with your family.

‘Steer clear of drugs. Have they not wrecked your life and the lives of those around you? Is enough not enough?’

We previously reported how, on January 23, McWhinnie was at the prison after being recalled for breaching his release licence.

He was said to have failed a number of drug tests after providing urine samples as part of the licence.

While McWhinnie was being booked in at the prison he said that he felt ill.

His condition rapidly deteriorated and he was taken to Noble’s Hospital, where he admitted that he had hidden packages containing cannabis in his back passage, which an X-ray confirmed.

The next day he produced three packages while using a commode.

Back at police headquarters he produced a statement saying he had a heavy dependency on subutex, valium and cannabis and he had been worried that withdrawal symptoms once in prison would be ‘horrific’, so he had tried to hide the cannabis to take into prison with him.

The total weight of the three cannabis packages concealed was 43.9 grams, said to have a street value of £295.

Defending McWhinnie in court, his advocate David Clegg handed in an update from the Drug and Alcohol Team (DAT) with a treatment plan.

Mr Clegg said: ‘It is a sad situation. This is a man with a severe drug addiction, who is actively working with DAT. His judgement was impaired and he made a very bad decision. There is no denying that. He has been recalled to prison because he’s been using controlled substances.

‘At that stage he panicked and rather than contact DAT he chose to act illegally.

‘But he co-operated. He actively handled the recepticles and put the drugs in bags himself. He realised when he got to Noble’s he’d made a bad decision and done everything he could to assist.

‘His main problem is one of grief. He has lost three people close to him recently, one a role model who tried to lead him away from drugs and he feels he has let this person down, and now he will never be able to show him that he can turn his life around.’