A MAN who hid a stash of illegal drugs in a dry stone wall near Windermere has been sent to prison for 18 months.

Carlisle Crown Court heard that John James Hicks, 31, planned to sell the tablets around nightclubs in the area.

The pills – all variations of the recreational stimulant drug known as BZP – were classified as class C drugs and therefore illegal, prosecutor Alan Lovett told the court.

Their intended use was as worming tablets for animals, he said.

The court heard Hicks, of Beech Street, Windermere, was arrested after a gamekeeper became suspicious of a car parked in a wood at Matson Ground, where there are no footpaths.

He returned there a few days later looking for “anything out of place” and noticed disturbed foliage which showed that a stone had been removed from a wall and then replaced, Mr Lovett said.

The gamekeeper investigated further and called the police when he found a plastic box full of pills inside a black canvas bag under the stone, he said.

Police kept observation and arrested Hicks when he returned to the site a short time later.

Hicks pleaded guilty to possessing the 519 ecstasy-like tablets – which would have been worth £2 each when sold in a nightclub – with intent to supply them.

In mitigation, defence advocate Chris Evans said that though Hicks had a previous conviction for possessing ecstasy with intent to supply it he had managed to keep out of trouble for 14 years.

He said Hicks was a hard working man, who used to run his own window cleaning business, and was now going to college in the hope of becoming a BBC sound engineer.

Judge Peter Hughes QC said there was no doubt that Hicks would have sold the tablets for a considerable profit around the clubs.

He said people probably would not buy such drugs if they knew what the were used for.

“I strongly suspect that those who might be tempted to buy BZP tablets are unaware of what their real purpose is – worming tablets used in the veterinary industry,” he said.

“I suspect that if young people knew just what they were they would be far less tempted to take them.”