Daniel Gibson’s was stopped as he tried to get into Stockton’s Zanzibar nightclub

Daniel Gibson’s was stopped as he tried to get into Stockton’s Zanzibar nightclub on April 20 last year.After his arrest, 102 more tablets were discovered in his bedroom and another 36 in his car, Teesside Crown Court was told yesterday.Gibson said he would probably have supplied some to his girlfriend and to other friends, said prosecutor Deborah Sherwin.He told police he’d just bought 200 tablets for £90 to last a few weeks, and he would use 20 to 25 a night.Gibson, of Leam Lane, Stockton, admitted possessing a Class A drug with intent to supply.Nigel Soppitt, defending, said Gibson was “delusional” at the time, saw no harm in his lifestyle and stood inline at the club knowing people were being searched.He added Gibson was ostracised and bullied horrendously over a disability which took 20 operations to remedy.
So he sought solace and escape in drug experimentation, took Ecstasy from the age of 15 and became “heavily dependent”.Mr Soppitt said Gibson knew his habits ruined his life and landed him in debt, and he had now changed his ways.He said Gibson had no previous convictions and was otherwise an “exemplary young man”.He had a close, supportive family, to whom he confessed his crime, and good references.
The judge, Recorder Felicity Davies, told Gibson: “It became clear that you were in the habit of taking an enormous number, perhaps 60 tablets, over the course of each weekend.”She said his crime was without financial gain, and accepted he was now ashamed and had turned his life around.“All in all, you do seem to have come to your senses,” she added.She passed a nine-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months with 180 hours’ unpaid work, and ordered him to pay the full £1,100 prosecution costs.