A drug dealer has been told he should know better after narrowly avoiding jail after admitting supplying cannabis for nearly a year.
Paul Fielding, 42, appeared before the Court of General Gaol Delivery on Friday for sentencing after previously pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of the class B drug.
His mobile phone was seized and analysed, with numerous messages found using drug terminology linking the defendant to supplying cannabis between May 20, 2024 and April 23, 2025.
Other drug paraphernalia, including grinders, drug pipes, foil, plastic bags and a tick list, were also found inside the property.
When officers downloaded messages from Fielding’s phone they found a number of references to drug dealing, including slang and coded terms for quantities, with as much as an ounce sold at a time.
Fielding told officers he was a habitual cannabis user and consumed it every day. He said he only sold the drug to friends and that they would also sell to him when needed.
But prosecutor Haze Carroon dismissed that explanation and said the amounts involved went far beyond that.
Fielding’s last conviction for drugs was more than two decades earlier.
Deemster Graeme Cook told Fielding: ‘You had clearly been at this for some time. You were out of trouble for some 22 years before this offence so you know how to keep your nose clean. You should know better by now.’
However, Deemster Cook took into account positive references, health issues and Fielding’s early guilty plea and decided against sending him straight to jail.
Fielding was handed a 16-month prison sentence suspended for two years, along with two years’ supervision.