Ex-soldier gets jail (From Gazette Series)

Ex-soldier gets jail

A FORMER Dursley marine who found it hard to cope when a comrade was killed by friendly fire during the Falklands War has been jailed for having £25,000 worth of cannabis in his car boot.

Michael Harney was caught by police with two bin liners containing a total of 5.97kg of skunk - a potent form of cannabis - with a street value of £25,480, Gloucester Crown Court heard last Thursday.

Harney, who walks with a stick, claimed he used cannabis for pain relief after he fell down the stairs in 1999 and suffered a severe spinal injury.

The 52-year-old, of Rangers Avenue, pleaded guilty to being in possession of cannabis with intent to supply it on April 29, 2005.

He had also admitted growing the plant between April 28 and May 1 last year and pleaded guilty to a charge of simple possession of the Class C drug between those dates.

Brendon Moorhouse, prosecuting, said officers had stopped Harney at around 7pm at Taits Hill in Dursley because of his erratic driving.

"He appeared drunk and when officers examined the vehicle they found two large bin liners with 5.97kg of herbal cannabis," Mr Moorhouse told the court.

"He claimed in interview that he was given two ounces of cannabis on the condition he took the rest to Bristol."

Mr Moorhouse said Harney had been jailed in 1999 for 13 months after admitting possession with intent to supply LSD, ecstasy and amphetamines.

Christopher Jervis, defending, said: "He was in pain and that is what led him into the scenario that he was foolish enough to accept."

He explained that Harney had committed his only other drugs offence after a traumatic incident in his life.

"He was in the marines. A friend of his was shot in the Falklands by a member of the British Armed Forces by mistake," Mr Jervis said.

"That made him go to pieces to some extent - it ruined his marriage. "He got into a relationship with a drug addict and thought he would be able to do something about it.

"He pleaded guilty to being the person looking after the drugs for someone else - he certainly got no financial benefit."

Judge Jamie Tabor QC said: "You were a courier.

"Drug dealers such as the man you visited that evening are dependant on others to move their drugs around and to stash them.

"Without people prepared to do that, such dealers would be caught more regularly and would find it far more difficult to trade.

"The task of ferrying drugs on the behalf of drug dealers is something that the courts take very seriously and I have no alternative but to send you to prison."

Judge Tabor jailed Harney for eight months.