A 31 year old man has been jailed for a total of four and a half years for drugs offences.

Bernard Ennis from Moss Craig, Liverpool, admitted two offences when he appeared before by Deemster Doyle; possessing drugs with intent to supply, and assisting another to retain the benefits of drug trafficking.

The defendant was seen on February 13th in the morning in Barclay's bank speaking on the phone and holding a large quantity of cash in his hand whilst he queued.

At 3.45pm on the same day a warrant was executed at a hotel in Douglas where the defendant and his girlfriend were detained. Drug paraphenalia and 9.65 grammes of diamorphine were recovered. The street value of the drug was ?965.

It was established that Ennis had deposited ?2,000 in the bank on February 12th, and ?650 on February 13th.

His advocate said the defendant had a drug debt, and was told if he brought some drugs to the Island some of the debt would be wiped out. He was told he would be met by someone and he believed the possession would only be for a very short time.

It was claimed Ennis was very much at the lower end of the scale.

Deemster Doyle said an aggravating factor was the defendant's previous drug related convictions.