IoM prosecution for less than two pounds of cannabis makes UK news

Mon, 09 Mar 2015

An Island-based drug prosecution for less than £2 of cannabis has made UK national news.

Both The Sun newspaper and the Mail Online have published articles on the prosecution of Martin Kewley from Onchan for possessing £1.59 worth of the Class B drug - saying it's at a cost of £5,000 to the taxpayer.

The Cabinet Office has responded by saying the defendant had considerable relevant previous convictions and pleaded guilty to the charge.

It also states that costs per case aren't available - so the newspapers are unlikely to have gathered the information from a reliable source.

Minister for Home Affairs Juan Watterson says police had no choice: