Manx man caught hiding cannabis in trousers sentenced

Matthew McCann and Keith Mourant were both handed suspended sentences

A man who was caught with cannabis hidden down his trousers and £3,710 stored in jars in a rucksack has been handed a 15-month suspended sentence.

Matthew McCann, 35, was arrested after being caught with the drugs and cash at the home of Keith Mourant.

The court heard 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.

He was handed a three-month sentence, suspended for 12 months.

The court heard 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.

The package was intercepted at the postal sorting office and he was identified through CCTV, which showed him being given a receipt for the parcel.

When police went to his 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.

Officers found at total of £616 of cannabis on his person and in jars in his rucksack, along with the cash.

They also found the receipt for the parcel Mourant had posted in his wallet.

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.

The court heard while Mourant had initially claimed he had inherited the cash and had posted it as a deposit for a Lambretta, he later pleaded guilty to attempting to remove criminal property from the island.

Sentencing him Deemster Graeme Cook said he accepted there was no evidence the money was drug-related but at the age of 57 he "should know better by now".

Suspending McCann's sentence for two years, he said he would "get no more chances as far as I am concerned".

Both men were also handed probation supervision orders for the duration of their sentences.