A 45-year-old man who had heroin hidden up his bottom has been handed a suspended sentence.

Paul Clint Shields was also made the subject of an 18-month suspended sentence supervision order after pleading guilty to the offence.

We previously reported that Shields was the passenger in a Mini Cooper, which was stopped by police on January 9 at Africa Court in Douglas.

He was taken to police headquarters for a drug search and it was believed that a package was hidden in his anus so he was then taken to Noble’s Hospital, where he spent two days.

During that time, he produced the package, which was subsequently seized by police and found to contain 13.1 grams of heroin, which they valued at £1,762.

During an interview Shields handed in a prepared statement saying the heroin was for his own personal use and that he had paid only £400 for it because it was ‘poor quality’.

After being analysed, the heroin was found to have a purity of 14%.

A warrant was executed at Shields’ home at Mona Terrace on an earlier date of December 3, where a search by police found 5.6 grams of cannabis, which they valued at £168, as well as scales.

During an interview regarding that, Shields handed in a prepared statement saying he had no intention of selling the cannabis and used the scales to weigh it out for himself.

Defence advocate David Reynolds asked for credit to be given for his client’s guilty pleas and said that he had been a long-term drug user.

Mr Reynolds said that Shields bought in bulk to deal with his addiction and had spent a significant part of his life in prison.

‘Unfortunately, when he comes out of custody, because he is somebody who is institutionalised, he has difficulties coping and resorts to taking drugs,’ said the advocate.

Mr Reynolds said that Shields was working with the drug and alcohol team and that sending him to custody would only be a short-term fix.

He added: ‘Clearly this is somebody who needs support to remain drug free.’

The advocate said that Shields had worked for a charity, volunteering one day a week and wanted to keep busy.

‘Supervision and structure is something he would grab with both hands,’ said Mr Reynolds.

Magistrates sentenced Shields to four months’ custody, suspended for 18 months, for the heroin offence.

No separate penalty was made for the cannabis possession.