A SOLVENT addict has been jailed for possessing canisters of butane gas in a park just days after he was banned from having them in public.

Officers found an unconscious James Gibson lying next to a butane gas canisterin St Andrew’s Gardens, Worc-ester, in the middle of the afternoon on Wednesday, October 26.

As they rolled him over to put him into the recovery position, they found another canister underneath his stomach.

This put him in breach of a two-year criminal anti-social behaviour order (Crasbo) for the second time – it had been imposed on him by magistrates just a week earlier.

The order banned him from inhaling butane gas, lighter fluid or any other gas or solvent in a public place, and from being seen with a container of gas, lighter fluid, or solvent in a public place, along with other requirements.

He was also the subject of an eight-week suspended prison sentence.

Kerry Lovegrove, prosecuting, said Gibson was arrested after he had been discharged by the ambulance service and was “uncooperative” throughout an interview with officers.

Gibson, of Barbourne Road, Barbourne, Worc-ester, pleaded guilty to breaching the Crasbo.

Paul Stanley, defending, said his client had substituted alcohol with solvent abuse. He said the 32-year-old was not using the canisters in public and was not being abusive or aggressive.

Mr Stanley said his client told him he was under the influence of alcohol at the time, although officers believed otherwise, and was in the company of other solvent abusers who had left the scene. He claimed Gibson was “doing the best he can” in terms of his behaviour.

Deputy district judge David Miller, sentencing, said Gibson had been “given a chance” when he appeared in court earlier in the week for his first breach of his Crasbo and he could not find any reason that would make it unjust of him to send the defendant to prison.

He jailed Gibson for 18 weeks.