Drugged, Sleeping Car Park Attendant Escapes Jail

A drug dealer who fell asleep while working as a car park attendant has been told he can turn his life around of face jail.

Police found Ryan Finlay Robert King, 26, in a drugged sleep in his car while he was supposed to have been on duty at his job, a court heard.

Motorists who could not get their cars out of McCausland's lock-up car park on Grosvenor Road in Belfast on November 14, 2010, alerted the police, who found King asleep in his Vauxhall Astra.

When they tapped on the window to rouse him, a dazed and confused King was seen trying to conceal a bag in the footwell of the car.

They then found nearly 50 grammes of cannabis, some LSD, and a quantity of pentalone, which is similar to Ecstasy, in his car and on his person.

King, from Meadowland, in Downpatrick, County Down, pleaded guilty to having and possessing cannabis with intent to supply.

He was given two years probation after agreeing to 80 hours community service.

Defence lawyer Mark Farrell said what police stumbled upon was no major sting or drugs bust.

He said King bought drugs on behalf of friends to make it cheaper for everyone involved.

Judge Gordon Kerr QC, told King that he had decided to give him one last chance to change or inevitably end up in prison.

King lost his job on the spot after taking drugs at work.

(NE)