Man who imported ecstasy to Isle of Man jailed

Nathan Briggs was jailed for four years at a hearing at Douglas Courthouse

A man who imported £4,050 of ecstasy tablets and other drugs to the Isle of Man in the post has been jailed for four years.

Nathan Briggs, 22, told police he was awaiting the delivery of a bed and some screws when police challenged him over two parcels on 6 January last year.

The packages, addressed to him at his parents' home, contained 257 tablets.

A search of his own flat in Douglas found a further 56 tablets in a locked box, separated out into snap bags.

Douglas Courthouse heard two identical packages, which were posted to his parents' house in St John's addressed to Briggs, were identified as suspicious at the island's main postal sorting office in Braddan.

The first was found to contain 201 Class A ecstasy tablets, with the second holding 56 Class B Eutylone pills.

When police went to the address they found him waiting outside for the delivery, which he said would be the bed and screws.

He did not live at the property and did not have a key to get in.

'Dangerous'

After he was arrested, a search of his home in Murray's Road uncovered a locked box containing more ecstasy tablets.

The total value of the drugs recovered was £4,050, the court heard.

Although Briggs initially denied any knowledge of the drugs, he later admitted he had bought them for himself and said he has separated them out so he did not accidentally overdose by taking too many each day.

Prosecutors accepted that the tablets were for personal use, and no evidence was offered on a further charge of possession with intent to supply.

Briggs pleaded guilty to production of a Class A drug, production of a Class B drug and possession of a Class A drug.

Sentencing him, Deemster Graeme Cook said although Eutylone was a Class B drug, it was "dangerous" and had caused fatalities in other regions because people did not know the how much they could take.