Had cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis

Lee McAreavey, whose address was given to the court as Carrigart, Craigavon, at a previous court had admitted two charges of possessing a class A drug and one involving a class B drug on September 19 last year.

Sentencing had been adjourned so that a pre-sentence report could be obtained.

The court heard he was the passenger in a car stopped on the Old Portadown Road in Lurgan.

There was a smell of herbal cannabis from the car and McAreavey had a small bag of herbal cannabis, a bag containing cocaine and an ecstasy tablet.

He said they were for his own personal use.

A solicitor representing the defendant said he was a hard working young man and at the time of this incident he was going through a difficult time.

District Judge, Mr Mervyn Bates, said the pre-sentence report was good and McAreavey had qualifications and was of good character.

He found that it did not pass the custody threshold and he could deal with the matter by way of fines.

However, he was concerned the defendant was in possession of three different types of drugs.

For the possession of cocaine McAreavey was fined £200 and ordered to pay a £15 offender’s levy.

He was fined £100 on each of the other two offences.

Judge Bates warned the defendant that if he re-offended a custodial sentence would be considered.