Isle of Man resident who hid cocaine in guttering jailed

Davis Taylor was sentenced to more than five years in prison

A man who hid £6,000 worth of cocaine and almost £2,000 in cash in the guttering outside his bedroom window to pay off a drug debt has been jailed.

Davis Taylor previously pleaded guilty to charges of possessing the drug with intent to supply and possessing criminal property.

Police found the drugs and money in a flask at his home on Palatine Road in Douglas on 15 December.

On Friday, Taylor, 26, was jailed for five years and two months.

Douglas Courthouse heard Taylor was a regular cocaine user and had agreed to hold on to the items for someone else in exchange for the wiping out of a debt.

Prosecutors said there was nothing found to imply that he had been dealing the drug.

His defence said he was "a young man in a directionless peer group" who did "not think he had any other option" than to hold on to the flask until told to give it to someone else.

Sentencing him, Deemster Graeme Cook said there were "easier ways of making money by working", adding: "You need to grow up."

'No more chances'

In a separate hearing on Friday, a 32-year-old man was handed an eight-month suspended sentence for cannabis offences.

Thomas Crozier, of Thorny Road in Douglas, previously pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing and intending to supply the drug.

The court heard he admitted having a small amount of the drug in his pocket when stopped by police outside his home on 2 December.

When officers then said they intended to conduct a full search of the property, he told them there was a larger quantity of the drug, worth £675, in the garage.

His defence said he had bought the drug in bulk because it was cheaper, and had sold quantities on to people in his social circle without making any profit.

Suspending the sentence for two years, Deemster Cook said he would "not get any more chances", adding: "You need to keep your nose clean."

He was also ordered to pay £500 in costs.