Mercy for rugby player found with festival drugs

Michael Brown was seen trying to sneak into an arena at Bramham Park without a ticket on August 28 last year and dropped some small bags as he ran off, chased by security staff.

He was caught and a total of 74 grip-seal bags were recovered, of which 13 were found to contain Ecstasy and four Ketamine.

Philip Adams, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court yesterday the remaining 57 bags contained a cocktail of five different class B and Class C drugs which if sold as Ecstasy would have had a street value of about £845.

Brown told officers he and friends had clubbed together to buy the drugs.

His counsel Nikki Peers said he also now accepted he would have been prepared to supply beyond friends if asked.

She told the court Brown was a promising rugby player who previously had a contract playing for Gateshead but had put himself under pressure as a good sportsman.

In a “summer of madness” he was drinking heavily and took drugs and on this one occasion together with friends, bought what they thought was the drug M-Cat, known as meow-meow, to take to the festival.

She said any commercial profit would have been extremely modest and he now realised the stupidity of what he had done.

He had stopped taking drugs and was genuinely remorseful. His arrest had brought an end to his rugby career for a time but he had now signed for a club in London and he once more had aspirations for the future if given a chance.

Brown, 24, of Iveson Drive, Leeds, admitted seven charges of possession with intent to supply and was given 12 months in prison suspended for two years with 200 hours unpaid work.

Judge Alastair McCallum said Brown had come close to going to prison, but he was prepared to given him a chance.