Yarmouth man arrested after leaving drugs stash on bus

A man who left his rucksack on a bus was arrested after the driver found it contained a stash of drugs and a set of scales.

Benjamin Boyes, 20, had been carrying more than 26 grammes of strong 'skunk' cannabis on the number eight to Caister on Sea on the afternoon of November 10.

Boyes reported the bag missing to First buses and a driver later discovered its contents, which were estimated to be worth up to �150, when he came across it on his vehicle.

Staff contacted the police, who arranged for Boyes to pick up the bag from Great Yarmouth bus depot and arrested him when he arrived.

At the time he was also found to be carrying a knife in the pocket of his hooded jacket.

Boyes, of Hawkins Avenue, Great Yarmouth, pleaded guilty to one charge of possession of cannabis and one charge of carrying a knife when he appeared at Norwich Crown Court on Tuesday.

But Danielle O'Donavan, mitigating, said her client had no malicious intent in carrying the knife, and that his intention was to harm himself.

He had long suffered with depression and was seeking help from a psychologist.

'He had taken the knife from his mother's toolbox that morning,' she said.

'His position has always been that it was a tool that he was going to use only against himself.'

He had also made serious efforts recently to turn his life around, she said, including giving up smoking cannabis four weeks ago.

He also secured a job at Burger King two weeks ago, and appeared in court wearing his uniform.

Recorder Godfrey Carey QC warned Boyes of the possible danger to mental health posed by strong varieties of cannabis such as skunk and said that carrying a knife was also a serious offence.

He handed down a sentence of four months in prison, suspended for a year, for carrying the knife, and another 14-day suspended sentence for possession of cannabis.

Boyes was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

Both the drugs and the knife will now be forfeited and destroyed.