A ‘reckless’ cystic fibrosis sufferer, caught with drugs while on a suspended jail term for growing cannabis, kept his freedom.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Stephen Holmes, 22, had ecstasy and amphetamine on him when police searched him in the town, last August 23. More illegal substances were found at his home.

Eight days later, he was arrested after he was abusive to police officers as they walked past him in the town centre.

He became aggressive, struggled, was taken to the ground, and he and the two officers went through the front doors of the post office.

Holmes’ barrister James Heyworth said the defendant had been trying to deal with the implications of his cystic fibrosis, the most significant of which was the real, and ever-present, impact it had on his life expectancy.

He added: “One can perhaps see how somebody who has that hanging over him, may, in an attempt to live life to the full, react with a rather reckless approach in relation to drugs and alcohol misuse.”

Holmes, of Westgate, Burnley, admitted possessing Class A and B drugs, resisting police, and being drunk and disorderly, in breach of the suspended term, and had been committed for sentence by Pennine magistrates.

He was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months, with 18 months’ supervision.