Matthew Dodd claims he was given 15.4g of dried cannabis leaves by a third party but he was trying to get rid of them because they were of “poor quality”.

The new bin charges came into place at the beginning of February, meaning every general waste bag put out for collection has to be labelled with a sticker.

Pictured: The new bin charges have been in place since 3 February 2019. Those which aren’t labelled correctly are checked incase they can be traced back to their owner. 

However, Dodd forgot to buy the correct ‘pay as you throw’ sticker for his bin bag, which was then searched on 20 February 2019 and the drug was found.

Although he had been in possession of the Class B controlled drug there was no evidence that Dodd had consumed any of the cannabis. He has a previous drug conviction from 2003 but has been out of trouble with the law since 2013.

In sentencing Judge Cherry McMillan said it was “perplexing” how the defendant had come to be in possession of the drug. “This is not role model behaviour,” she said to Dodd, who is currently primary carer for three children. “I’m telling you now, stop it.”

Dodd was given a £300 fine or 15 days in custody if he failed to pay.