A GROOM-TO-BE who bought a "job lot" of drugs to sell to raise cash for the wedding has begun married life behind bars.

Ian Hyde, 34, of Victoria Road, Earby, had been selling cannabis to friends and was intending to deal in an ecstasy-type class A controlled drug known as "nexus", Burnley Crown Court was told.

Sending Hyde - who has no previous convictions - to prison for 15 months, Judge Raymond Bennett said jail could not be avoided.

He said it was extremely sad to see a person who had never been in trouble before sitting in the dock and, were it not for Hyde's good character and the fact that he had held his hand up from the start, the sentence would have been much longer.

The judge added: "You must have known from what you have read in the newspapers that people who are caught in posession of these kind of drugs go to prison, particularly if they are supplying.

"I have presided over cases where people have died as a result of taking ecstasy. Happily, that is not the case here."

Hyde had been committed to the crown court for sentence by Burnley magistrates after being convicted of supplying cannabis resin, possessing the drug, and possessing amphetamine with intent to supply. He admitted possessing 35 tablets of "nexus" with intent to supply, and possession of cannabis bush.

Angelina Dennett, prosecuting, told the court that a police search of Hyde's home recovered drugs to a total value of £830, plus £508 in cash.

Hyde said some of the cash was his young son's savings for a trip to Disneyland but couldn't explain where the rest had come from.

When interviewed, Hyde said he would sell cannabis to friends in a social setting, and took the drug himself to relieve shoulder pain. He intended to sell the amphetamine and nexus tablets.

Miss Dennett said Hyde told police that profit on a good week - "when the sun shines" - was between £60 and £80, otherwise it was £40 to £50.

Roger Baldwin, defending, said Hyde had been "stunningly honest and open" with the police. He had undoubtedly learned his lesson and had stopped taking any drugs at all.

There was no danger of his behaviour being repeated.

Hyde was clearly valued by his employers and was extremely well thought of by people in positions of responsibility, said Mr Baldwin.

He urged the court to be lenient, saying that someone who had taken a nexus tablet told Hyde it was not ecstasy and he had intended to "supply" them back where they came from. He had bought the tablets with the intention of supplying.

Hyde had been involved in a serious road accident in 1984 which left him with psychiatric difficulties.

He had sold a modest amount of cannabis to friends for six to eight weeks before his arrest and had got a "job lot of nexus and amphetamine" to double his money and finance his wedding.

Mr Baldwin said the public was not at risk from Hyde, who was now married.

The court could impose a sentence which was considerably less than would otherwise be imposed in the "particular and peculiar" circumstances of the case, he said.

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