A man who imported drugs to the island has had his jail term cut on appeal.

Stefan Ball, 35, was jailed for 16 months in July after pleading guilty to producing the controlled class A drug cocaine.

But he appealed the sentence imposed by Deemster Graeme Cook, his lawyer claiming it was ‘manifestly excessive’.

The appeal court agreed and substituted the 16 month prison sentence for one of 10 months’ custody.

In their judgment, Deemster Alan Gough and Deemster Michael Hopmeier said: ‘An appeal court does not alter a sentence which is the subject of an appeal merely because the members of the court might have passed a different sentence.

‘It is only when a sentence appears to err in principle that the appeal court will alter it.’

Ball, of Billesdon, Leicester, was travelling as a passenger in a BMW which was stopped at port security in Douglas at 6am on March 5 this year, having sailed from Heysham on the Ben-my-Chree.

Five wraps of suspected class A drugs were found in a blue ‘Moncler’ jacket on the rear seat of the car.

The appellant was found to be in possession of £630 in cash but he denied knowledge of the wraps found in the jacket which he said he had lent to the driver.

At the police station Ball was searched and three snap bags containing white powder were found on him.

The five wraps found in the ‘Moncler’ jacket contained some 54.75g of cocaine with a purity of between 73% and 84% while the three snap bags of cocaine found on the appellant had a total weight of 1.49g with a purity of 75 to 80%.

Ball pleaded guilty to the possesion of the three wraps found on him, on the basis that the drugs were his and for his own personal use.

The prosecution did not proceed with a second charge of possession with intent to supply relating to the five wraps of cocaine which were found in his jacket and for which the co-accused ultimately accepted responsibility in court.

The appeal court judges said it was clear that the quantity of drugs found on Ball was very small.

They said Deemster Cook was fully entitled to include an element of deterrence in the sentence he passed as this was a case concerning the importation of class A drugs.

But they said he had erred by putting an ‘excessive emphasis’ on the high purity of the very small amount of drugs.

They said: ‘We can well understand that Deemster Cook may have considered that the high purity of the drugs meant that cutting, and thus supply, might have been a possibility.

‘Given the prosecution stance on the appellant’s basis of plea, however, the very small amount of drugs in this case and the fact that the court was prepared to accept the basis of plea, it was not, in our judgment, appropriate for this possibility, which was at best remote, to affect the level of sentence and to be treated as an aggravating factor.’

Ball remains subject to an exclusion order, banning him from the island for five years.

This did not form part of the appeal and will take effect after he is released from custody.