Sculthorpe man fined over £1 cannabis find

A man was left with a £167 court bill after being caught with a small bit of cannabis worth less than £1.

And what made it worse for 23-year-old Jordan Pope is that it was his call to police that resulted in him being arrested for drug possession.

He was before magistrates in Lynn on Thursday to plead guilty to possession of 0.29 grams of cannabis on October 4.

Police had attended a property in a South Creake caravan park about an unrelated matter and Pope was searched.

“The cannabis was worth less than £1,” said prosecutor Anna Crayford, who added that the defendant had previously been in court for a drug offence in October 2020.

The CPS made a costs application for £105.

Solicitor Andrew Cogan, mitigating, said: “It would have cost the state a great deal more than £105 [to bring the case to court] for £1 worth of cannabis.

“Nevertheless, he is here and the reason is because he shouldn’t have been in possession of it.”

Mr Cogan said it was his client who had called the police following a disturbance at his then home during which he had sustained “quite a nasty injury”.

He added: “He’s not pursued that [matter].”

Pope, a self-employed car valeter from Moor Lane, Sculthorpe, was fined £83 and ordered to pay reduced costs of £50, plus a £34 victim surcharge.