A MAN who lives in a caravan in the grounds of his brother’s rural B&B near Newent was caught with a £3,800 stash of cannabis, a court heard on Friday.

Mark Jukes, 41, was a ’middle-man’ who stored drugs and passed them between dealers and he was chosen for that role because of his isolated home location, Gloucester Crown Court was told.

Smartly dressed Jukes, of Malswick Mill B&B near Newent, admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply on July 10 this year.

The court heard it was not his first involvement in the illegal cannabis trade. He had a previous conviction for growing cannabis in a house in Gloucester, which had been turned into a commercial hothouse for the drugs.

But despite his record Judge Jamie Tabor QC allowed him to walk free from court with a six months jail term, suspended for two years.

He was also ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work, 15 days rehab and pay costs and court charges totalling £380.

Victoria Heasman, prosecuting, said when police went to Malswick Mill they found 380grams of dried herbal cannabis hidden in a bin liner under a pile of clothing in Jukes’ caravan. He also had a set of drug weighing scales there.

"He said he was a middle man who passed drugs from Person A to Person B," said Ms Heasman.

Graham Wallace, defending, said the only payment Jukes received was a small share of the drugs he stored.

"He is the sucker who takes the blame," commented Judge Jamie Tabor QC.

Mr Wallace said: "Jukes lives a very simple lifestyle on his brother’s land. He works cash in hand. He has been taken advantage of by people higher up the chain because he is in a place where the police would not normally look."

Judge Tabor told Jukes: "Your trouble is that you have been here before for cannabis offences.

"The fact is that you don’t think cannabis should be illegal. I don’t care what you think, it is illegal. I see people at least once a week here who have made themselves ill, sometimes seriously ill, by using this stuff.

"If you should be caught again with a substantial amount of cannabis you will go to prison for a very long time."