A former TT sidecar competitor has been jailed for six years and four months for possession of cocaine with intent to supply.

Karl Bennett, 40, was working as a taxi driver for his father-in-law when he was stopped by police driving erratically on Ballaoates Road, Strang, on January 7 this year.

A search of the taxi revealed a blue plastic bag containing 80.5g of cocaine and a subsequent search of his home found a further 98.4g of the class A drug in the garage and 93.6g of it in the bedroom.

Prosecutor Peter Connick told the Court of General Gaol Delivery that the 272.5g of cocaine seized had a street value of between £27,250 and £54,500.

He said the drugs found in the garage and bedroom could have been accessible to the defendant’s children if they had gone ‘rooting around for it’.

Bennett, of the Cronk Grianagh estate in Braddan, last competed as a sidecar driver in the TT in 2018. His best position was fourth in 2016.

He admitted possession of cocaine with intent to supply.

Sentencing him to six years and four months in prison, Deemster Graeme Cook told him: ‘It pains me to have someone with your background appear at the age of 40 for the first time for an extremely serious charge.’

Defence advocate Kaitlyn Shimmin told the court that he client had ‘got himself in with the wrong group of people’ and had been in a ‘downward spiral’ since about 2018.

She said he had carried out the ‘one-off’ offence to clear a drugs debt from his own personal use. She said he had not received any payment and it had ben purely to clear his debt.

Miss Shimmin urged the Deemster to ‘show mercy’ as her client was ‘not the usual type to be here’.

Deemster Cook imposed a Proceeds of Crime confiscation order of £27,095 and ordered that £3,000 of this is to be paid to a Manx heritage charity.

Bennett will serve two thirds of his sentence before being automatically released on licence but can apply for parole at the halfway point.