POLICE who executed a search warrant found cocaine hidden in a garden barbecue.

They also found two wraps of the class A drug in the ashtray of a car parked on the drive and in the house they recovered a quantity of plastic bags and two scales.

But Robert Dunn, 52, of Cheshire View in Brymbo, denied the block of cannabis weighing just over 20 grammes and valued up to £1,200 would have been supplied to anyone else.

He said the drug was “rubbish” which he and a friend had bought for £300 because its purity was so low.

Dunn – who said he had taken cocaine for some 20 years – said they bought it in bulk to keep the price down and he hoped it would last him a month.

He admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply on the basis that he would share it for free with three others when they could not get any – and added they would do the same for him.

His basis of plea was not accepted by the prosecution at Mold Crown Court who said Dunn he would not have been able to buy such a quantity of cocaine for £300 and the circumstances had all the hallmarks of someone who supplied the drug.

The purity did not affect the price, said barrister Robert Edwards, prosecuting.

A drugs expert had pointed out purchasers would not know the purity when they bought it although it was accepted that at 16 per cent it was extremely low.

But after hearing evidence on the issue Judge Timothy Petts accepted what Dunn said and sentenced him on that basis.

Dunn received an 18 month prison sentence suspended for 18 months. He was placed on 20 days rehabilitation and told pay a £140 surcharge.

Judge Petts said Dunn was being given a chance to address his drugs habit but warned him that if he did not change then there was a risk to his health and a risk that he would again become involved with the criminal justice system.

The supply of class A drugs was a pernicious blight on society, he warned, which ruined the lives of those who took them and those around them.

Interviewed by police, Dunn claimed he knew nothing of the drugs in the barbecue and said he was being set up but his DNA was found on the packaging.

In evidence, Dunn said he and a friend went halves and purchased supply for £300.

“I knew it was low quality anyway,” he said.

Cocaine taking had simply become a habit for him. He took it mainly at weekends and he had got used to it.

Dunn said he had used cocaine for about 20 years but did not know why and thought it was psychological.

The two wraps in the car were ready for a camping holiday in Shell Island.

He said he would simply share cocaine with three others with no money involved, and they would return cocaine when he was short.

He denied prosecution claims that he had the cocaine block to make profit.

Simon Rogers, defending, said his client suffered from depression and psychosis and was engaged with the local mental health services.