A teenager who intended to sell drugs to her friends has been put on probation for 12 months.

Lily Susan Jones admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply and was also ordered to pay £50 prosecution costs.

Prosecuting advocate Barry Swain told the court that care workers at an address in Derby Road in Douglas, where 17-year-old Jones was living at the time, called the police on October 4.

They had checked her room after becoming suspicious that the teenager had drugs.

Cannabis was found in the stuffing of a cushion in Jones’s room.

Police arrived and confirmed that three wraps of the class B drug, weighing 0.9 grams, 0.8 grams, and 0.7 grams were in the cushion.

When officers spoke to Jones she said: ‘I’m selling it for my own sake.’

However, during an interview at police headquarters, the teenager answered ‘no comment’ to all questions.

A probation report said that Jones, who lives at Peel Road in Douglas, had a number of issues which would not be disclosed in open court.

The report said that she had struggled with anxiety and depression but had made positive changes in her life, now studying hairdressing at the college.

The teenager was said to have a ‘great deal of potential despite difficulties she had experienced’.

The probation report said that Jones was working with the drug and alcohol team and no longer used drugs, and would benefit from a period of probation.

Defence advocate Ian Kermode entered a basis of plea on behalf of his client in which Jones said that she would have used some of the cannabis herself but admitted she also would have sold some of it to friends, to fund her own use.

Mr Kermode handed in letters of reference for the defendant and urged the court to follow the recommendation for a probation order, saying that it would be very helpful to Jones.

High Bailiff Jayne Hughes gave Jones credit for her guilty plea and co-operation with the police.

She will pay the prosecution costs at a rate of £5 per week, deducted from benefits.