A 21-year-old Onchan man was this afternoon handed a suspended sentence after admitting dealing cannabis.

Deemster Graeme Cook sentenced Joseph Christopher Parker, of Hillberry View, to a 12-month jail term, suspended for 18 months (supervision) for supplying the class B drug to friends and associates ‘on a small scale’.

Mr Parker came to police attention after they raided his drug dealer father’s home in Onchan, and evidence of Parker junior’s dealing was found on his mobile phone.

Parker’s father, Christopher Joseph Parker, aged 43, was jailed for five years in November 2022 after he was caught with more than £267,000-worth of cannabis in his van and £33,000 in cash at his home.

There was also evidence of the ordering of cannabis concentrate online.

Deemster Cook described the younger Parker as having ‘an unfortunate upbringing’, stating that ‘through your father’s criminality you were arrested’.

Defence advocate Jim Travers said that Parker junior had ‘attempted to build bridges with his father, only to land in this kind of trouble’.

He added: ‘I am not suggesting he [the father] tried to get him to do his bidding, but it was a toxic relationship’.

Mr Cook gave Parker credit for his immediate guilty plea, the findings of a social inquiry report, his lack of previous convictions, and the fact that he had lost his employment due to the court proceedings.

In sentencing, Deemster Cook said: ‘Cannabis is not, as many think, a “lifestyle drug”. It is a dangerous drug, and if people take too much of it dramatic things can happen to them.’