Two men have been jailed for importing cocaine to the island on the ferry.

Ross Michael Charlton was arrested at the Sea Terminal where police found 54.7 grams of the class A drug in a jacket in the car he was driving.

His passenger, Stefan Oliver Joseph Ball, was also caught with 1.4 grams of the drug.

Charlton admitted importing cocaine and possessing it with intent to supply, and was sentenced to four years and 11 months in prison by Deemster Graeme Cook.

Ball pleaded guilty to importing the drug and was sentenced to 16 months in custody.

Thirty-five-year-old Ball was also banned from the island for five years under an exclusion order, however, Charlton, who is 43, was spared a ban due to him having a child here.

We previously reported that Charlton, who lives at Lodge Road, Fleckney, Leicester, was disembarking the Ben-my-Chree on March 5 at 6am, having travelled from Heysham with a silver BMW.

Ball, who lives at Harborough Road, Billeston, Leicester, was a passenger in the car.

They were stopped by port security and police, acting on information received.

Charlton said that he was here to visit family.

The BMW was searched and five wraps of what was suspected to be cocaine were found in the pocket of a Moncler jacket in the back of the car.

They were taken to police headquarters where they were strip searched and a further wrap containing white powder was found on Charlton.

A test by police confirmed that the drug was cocaine in the jacket and it was said to weigh 54.7 grams with a purity of 73 per cent. The further wrap found on Charlton weighed 0.34 grams with a purity of 81 per cent.

During a police interview Charlton said he had come to the island to visit his son.

He claimed that he had originally intended to use a different car but after issues with it said he had used the BMW.

But he claimed that he did not know who the owner of the BMW was.

He said he had found the jacket in the back of the car and put it on at one point because he was cold.

Regarding the cocaine wrap found during the strip search, Charlton claimed he had found it in the driver door pocket and panicked when he saw police so he had put it in his pocket.

Ball was also found to have three wraps of white powder on him, weighing a total of 1.4 grams with a purity of 75 per cent.

Prosecuting advocate James Robinson said that the purity of the drugs was extremely high.

Charlton was represented by advocate Stephen Wood who said that his client had been realistic and pragmatic throughout proceedings, accepting responsibility from the outset.

Mr Wood said that a probation report spoke highly of Charlton, saying he was a ‘pleasure to deal with’ and that he had been doing voluntary work here while on bail at Tromode House, and was looking to study for a degree while in prison.

‘He has made connections here,’ said the advocate. ‘He had an offer of work, to work on classic cars. I would submit he is a decent chap who has allowed himself to get caught up in this.’

Mr Wood said that Charlton suffered from back problems and had been prescribed fentanyl and another opiate based painkiller, but had then used cocaine to self-medicate.

‘This had an effect on his ability to live a normal life,’ said the advocate. ‘One might raise an eyebrow about self-medicating with cocaine but he has gone down the route of replacing fentanyl.

‘His use of cocaine has spiralled to the point where it became a dependency.’

Mr Wood said that, although the purity of the drug was high, there was no evidence that his client had planned to ‘bash’ it (cut it with another substance).

‘There was no bashing agent in the car and I would submit he had no intention of bashing it.

‘His cocaine use was very significant at the time, it is highly likely he would have used a significant amount of the drug he was found with.

Peter Taylor, who represented Ball, said that his client was being sentenced only for importing a small amount of cocaine, which was for personal use, and that he had spent 12 weeks on remand, then a further six weeks with his freedom restricted as he had not been allowed to leave the island.

‘He has been punished, and it was a deterrent sentence, even if it was on remand,’ said the advocate.