By Staff Reporter

Last updated at 14:13, Wednesday, 28 October 2009

A Carlisle man was fined £120 after being caught with cocaine on a drunken night out in Botchergate.

Paul Bell, 35, of Monksclose Road, off Wigton Road, admitted possession of the drug along with a charge of drunk and disorderly.

Carlisle Magistrates’ court heard yesterday that police officers were called to Party Party nightclub by door staff at around 9.45pm on August 15.

Pam Ward prosecuting said Bell, who admitted to drinking 10 pints of lager that evening, had been “causing problems” at bars in Botchergate and licensees had alerted the Pub Watch scheme.

He had become abusive after being refused entry to the club and was being restrained by its door staff when the police arrived.

Officers discovered the cocaine in Bell’s sock after a search. Bell told officers he bought the drugs from a man at the taxi rank and he believed they were amphetamines.

He said: “It was one drunken stupid mistake. I regret it.”

Bell was fined £120 with £85 court costs.

First published at 11:34, Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk