Gary Bowie, 31, was sentenced at Douglas Courthouse for trying to have a parcel containing £9,000 of cannabis, addressed to someone else, delivered to his own home.[1]

Customs and excise officials intercepted the parcel, sent to an address in Ramsey from the United States, when it arrived on the island on 4 May and found it contained cannabis.[1] Bowie, claiming to be the addressee, went to the post office and asked for the parcel to be delivered to his own address on Brookhill Road.[1] He was arrested on 15 May after accepting the parcel when it was delivered to his home.[1]

Told officers he had been offered £300 to obtain the package, but said he knew what was in it and had intended to keep it for himself.[1] He pleaded guilty to attempting to possess cannabis with the intent to supply.[1] Deemster Graeme Cook handed him a 14-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, saying it was “good news” that the cannabis had been “taken from the street”.[1] Cook said that suspending the sentence was “appropriate in relation to what custody could do to you”.[1]