Dealer who ran from police in his underpants jailed

A cocaine dealer who tried to flee from police wearing only his underpants has been jailed for six years and four months.

Connah Watterson, 29, was caught by police after being seen running out of the back door of his home carrying a blue rucksack in May last year.

Douglas Courthouse heard the bag contained cocaine wrapped up in a ball the size of a grapefruit.

Jailing him, Deemster Graeme Cook said he had become involved in the "murky world" of drugs.

The court heard police went to the house in Port Erin where Watterson lived with his aunt at about 07:30 BST on 29 May to carry out a search warrant.

When officers arrived, they saw a man wearing only his underpants and carrying the rucksack run from the back door.

After being apprehended, he told them they would find what they were looking for in his bedroom, the court was told.

A search of the room, along with the bag he had been carrying, uncovered a quantity of cocaine that had a street value of £12,540.

Watterson answered "no comment" when interviewed by police, but later pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply.

The court heard he had a previous conviction for the supply of cannabis dating back to 2016.

His defence advocate said he was ashamed of his behaviour and the shame he had brought on his family, particularly his aunt, who had brought him up.

The 29-year-old had run away when the police arrived because he wanted to remove the drugs from the property so that his family did not get "caught up in it", he added.

The court heard Watterson claimed he had become involved in dealing to clear his own drug debt.

Jailing him, the deemster said he was a street dealer who had become involved in the "murky world of drugs".

He said the substances had a "devastating effect on hundreds, if not thousands" of people on the island, and the "level of depravity" drug addiction took people to included stealing to pay for them.

Drugs were "dangerous to those who take them, the family and friends of those who take them, and those who supply them", he said.

It was "quite clear" Watterson had lost his way, and it was "tragic" that at 29 years old he would lose years of his life in prison as a result, he added.

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