Teen's cannabis court appearance branded 'overkill'

"Complete and total overkill" - that's how an advocate has branded a decision to take a teenager to court after he was caught with just under six grams of cannabis. 

Police stopped 18-year-old Ciaran Kaighin on Crellin's Hill in Douglas just after midnight on April 10th - they believed he was under the effects of a substance so carried out a drug search. 

Officers recovered 5.1 grams of cannabis resin which had a street value of £26.97 - a later search of his flat recovered 0.6 grams of the drug; this time with a street value of £3.17 pence. 

At Douglas Courthouse this week Kaighin admitted two counts of possession of the Class B substance - his advocate John Wright claimed police "must have been using a magnifying class" to find it. 

He told the court he believes police "overinflate" the street value of drugs saying the case seemed "a little bit over the top". 

Sentencing him Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes admitted the quantities were "relatively low" and said Kaighin, who had no previous convictions, had lost his "good character". 

She handed him a 12-month conditional discharge and fined him £125 telling him "keep out of trouble".