Ex-fitness instructor pleads guilty to using cannabis for bad back
A FORMER fitness instructor has been spared prison after he was found with cannabis worth thousands of pounds.
A FORMER fitness instructor has been spared prison after he was found with cannabis worth thousands of pounds.
Simon Neal was using the drug to help his bad back but was also a cannabis addict and a dealer to family and friends.
Police searched his home in Templars Court, Radford, on July 6 last year, and found cannabis in the kitchen cupboard.
Neal, 38, turned up during the search and was arrested.
Nottingham Crown Court heard he claimed he bought the cannabis for £900, was a heavy user and the 570 grams recovered would take six months to smoke.
A police expert poured doubt on his usage and Judge Andrew Hamilton, who sentenced Neal, said: "No one would buy cannabis for six months. It would have rotted by then."
Neal pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis with intent to supply to family and friends."
Neal's stash was worth between £3,000 to £4,000 at wholesale price and £5,700 at street level.
Text messages were recovered from a laptop linked to Neal's phone. On one occasion three messages were exchanged asking if cannabis was available.
Neal had previous convictions for possessing cannabis and heroin with intent to supply.
The judge decided to suspend an eight-month prison sentence for two years and ordered Neal be supervised by the probation service for two years. He must also spend his free time doing 160 hours of unpaid work.
Assets of £3,000 were confiscated.
The judge told Neal: "I am in doubt you are not someone who is selling cannabis to all and sundry but you have pleaded guilty on a basis."
He added: "There are other remedies for bad backs."
Felicity Campbell, in mitigation, said Neal was a fitness instructor for six years.
The condition he suffers from gives him a great deal of pain, she added.
"Cannabis is still an addiction of his. He has a severe medical condition which cannabis assists with."
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