A Carlisle man jailed for almost a decade in 2016 for involvement in a drugs supply plot has been given another prison sentence – for illegally possessing prescription medication.
City magistrates heard today how 34-year-old William Cannon amassed a secret stash of codeine and gabapentin which he later confessed to buying on the black market.
This was found when police went to a Carlisle address in late June, 2021. “He was found hiding in fibre glass insulation in the loft space,” said prosecutor Andy Travis. “During a search, police located a large quantity of pharmaceuticals in their original packaging.”
These were also concealed within the insulation material.
In total, 3,139 tablets were recovered and these included codeine and gabapentin.
Cannon, formerly of Welsh Road, Carlisle, had provided a prepared statement in which he described suffering from back pain for many years and acquiring medication for himself. He said: “At no time have I ever attempted to sell this medication to anybody else or provide them to anybody else.”
When Cannon appeared before magistrates over a video link from custody he admitted illegally possessing codeine and gabapentin. His solicitor said heavy manual labour to which he returned, after being released from custody on licence during 2019, had exacerbated back pain he had had since his late teens.
Magistrates heard Cannon had been handed a nine-year jail term in 2016 for plotting to supply class A cocaine and class B amphetamine. He was one of six people sentenced by a judge after police smashed a criminal conspiracy, raiding Carlisle homes and recovering high purity drugs and bulking agents.
Cannon – whose prison licence is not due to expire until next year – received a total prison term of six months today for his illegal possession of the two prescription drugs.
