A 36 year old Drybrook man caught in possession of cannabis and a truncheon at his home has been conditionally disharged for a year and ordered to pay financial penalties totalling £84.

James Gardner of Sunnymeade Close, Drybrook Village, pleaded guilty at Cheltenham Magistrates Court to possessing on October 29 last year a quantity of cannabis and a ‘friction lock truncheon/baton’ which is illegal under the Criminal Justice Act 1988.

The magistrates ordered forfeiture of the drugs and weapon and fined Gardner £60 plus a £24 victim services surcharge.