A teenager caught with more than £2,000 worth of cannabis has been handed a suspended sentence.

Eighteen-year-old Ryan Alexander Woodworth was arrested with a juvenile after they tried to walk away from police.

He pleaded guilty to possessing the drug with intent to supply and was sentenced to 18 weeks’ custody, suspended for two years, and put under supervision for two years.

The court heard that police saw Woodworth walking with a juvenile on August 20 last year, at 11.50am, on Christian Road in Douglas.

When the pair saw the police car, they walked the other way, but were found in a garden nearby.

They were detained for a drug search, and a package was found in the waistband of Woodworth’s trousers, containing 140.7 grams of cannabis, which police valued at £2,814.

Woodworth is already subject to a suspended sentence, imposed in May, after he admitted being a passenger in three stolen cars, as well as possessing cannabis.

Defence advocate Paul Glover said that a probation report detailed his client’s vulnerabilities.

Mr Glover said that the teenager had spent the last couple of weeks in prison, after a breach of bail, and having no suitable bail address to go to.

The advocate said that Woodworth hadn’t enjoyed being in prison, not just because he had lost his liberty, but also because he had been around more hardened criminals.

‘He is a vulnerable man who needs support and structure in his life,’ said Mr Glover.

‘If he goes back to prison he may be at risk from those who may want to take advantage of him.’

The advocate went on to say that Woodworth now had an address to go to, residing with his grandmother, in the south of the island, which he said would be away from past negative influences.