Matthew McCann, 35, was arrested after being caught with cannabis and cash at the home of Keith Mourant in Douglas.[1] McCann received a 15-month suspended sentence after being caught with cannabis hidden down his trousers and £3,710 stored in jars in a rucksack.[1] McCann, of Woodbourne Road in Douglas, was found guilty of possession with intent to supply and money laundering at an earlier trial at Douglas Courthouse, but was cleared of involvement in the attempt to post cash to Hampshire.[1] Mourant received a three-month sentence, suspended for 12 months.[1] Both men were also handed probation supervision orders for the duration of their sentences.[1]

Officers found a total of £616 of cannabis on McCann’s person and in jars in his rucksack, along with the cash.[1] Police had gone to arrest Mourant for attempting to post £2,650 hidden in a teapot, which he said was for a deposit for a Lambretta.[1] Mourant had attempted to send the parcel to an address in Hampshire at the post office in Strand Street in Douglas on 7 October 2020.[1] The package was intercepted at the postal sorting office and Mourant was identified through CCTV showing him being given a receipt for the parcel.[1]

When police went to Mourant’s home in Lord Street in Douglas to arrest him five days later, they found McCann in the living room and noticed a large bulge in his trousers.[1] They also found the receipt for the parcel Mourant had posted in McCann’s wallet.[1] Mourant had initially claimed he inherited the cash and posted it as a deposit for a Lambretta, but later pleaded guilty to attempting to remove criminal property from the island.[1] Sentencing Mourant, Deemster Graeme Cook said he accepted there was no evidence the money was drug-related but said that at 57 he should know better by now.[1] Suspending McCann’s sentence for two years, Cook said he would get no more chances as far as he was concerned.[1] At an October 2020 hearing Matthew Pierce McCann, aged 34, of Woodbourne Square pleaded not guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply, possessing £3,710 in cash and attempting to remove £2,650 from the island.[2] At the same hearing Keith Richard Mourant, aged 55, of Lord Street denied attempting to remove £2,650 in cash from the island.[2]