A MOTORCYCLIST caught ferrying more than half a kilogram of cannabis from Westbury to Trowbridge has been spared jail.

Charlie Smith was found with the drugs when he was pulled over for speeding as he was making the late-night drop-off.

After hearing the 23-year-old said he had been put under pressure to courier the packages, and had not been in trouble before, a judge imposed a community order.

After the case DC David Hambly, of the Dedicated Crime Team South based in Melksham, said: "It was a good stop. The street value of that amount of cannabis would be worth between £2,500-£3,000."

Gregory Gordon, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how police stopped Smith riding his Yamaha shortly after 10.30pm on August 3.

Because of the speed he was going he was pulled over and when officers could smell cannabis he was asked if he had any on him, and he said he had.

"The officer looked in the bag and he found 560g of cannabis in two football sized carrier bags," Mr Gordon said.

Smith then said 'It is not my fault, I am so sorry, they made me do it,' saying he had been put under pressure to carry the drugs.

He later claimed that in the months before being stopped some men had come to his flat, threatened him with a knife and smashed things up.

They then returned, he said, and told him to go to Westbury where he would be met and given a package.

He said he was told to take it to a park in Trowbridge, where he would be met, but he was stopped on the way so never made it.

Mr Gordon said the police say they feel it is possible he is the sort of person to be pressurised by dealers into doing what he did.

Smith, of Manor Road, Trowbridge, pleaded guilty to possessing a class B drug with intent to supply.

Andrew Stone, defending, said that his client had no previous convictions, was sorry for what he had done and was also a vulnerable man.

Passing sentence Judge Jason Taylor QC said “You maintain that you were forced in to delivering these drugs, but you now accept by your plea that you should have gone to the police. You have entered a basis of plea: it is not a basis that they are sceptical of.

“It is not a basis of plea the police wish to test: they know vulnerable individuals like you across the country are preyed on in this way. I do accept that you could be considered vulnerable.”

He imposed a one year community order with a curfew from 8pm to 6am for the next eight months.