Cocaine grandad from Catton is given suspended sentence

Douglas Frost at norwich Magistrates Court

CHRISTINE CUNNINGHAM
26 November 2009 11:00



A 69-year-old grandfather who was found with a stash of hundreds of pounds worth of cocaine told a judge he would never do anything like this again after he was given a suspended nine-month jail term.

Douglas Frost was found with cocaine with a street value of £650 when police raided his Norwich home.

The grandfather of Penn Grove, New Catton, told police he was looking after the drugs for someone he refused to name.

Frost, who was of previous good character, admitted possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply and appeared yesterdayat Norwich Crown Court for sentence.

The court heard he had already lost a great deal as a result of the case as he had to give up his work with a local football club where he had worked for many years as he thought it would be improper to carry on.

Guy Ayers, on his behalf said that Frost had resigned from the football club where he worked as he felt it was the right thing to do: “He thinks it would be improper to carry on this association.”

He said that Frost, who is divorced and lives alone, had also lost a stone in weight and also had found a new home for his dog as he feared he might be sent to prison and not be able to care for it.

Judge Paul Downes imposed a nine month jail term suspended for a year and ordered him to do 150 hours unpaid work.

He told him that his involvement in the drugs was totally out of character and said he had been made “a bit of a fool of” by those he had agreed to look after the drugs for.

He told Frost: “Don't do anything like this again.”

To which Frost replied: “Certainly not.”

When Frost appeared at magistrates last month to admit the crime he had been warned a spell in jail could be on the cards.

At the time his own solicitor described the case as 'unique' explaining that Frost had no previous convictions or links to drugs.

Frost refused to comment when confronted outside court by the Evening News.

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