A MAN'S night of clubbing in Worcester came to an end before it started when the nightclub doorman found drugs in his packet of cigarettes.

Mutmayeen Rahman, aged 28, was searched as he entered the Evolution club, in the city centre, and was found to be concealing a quantity of amphetamines and an ecstasy tablet.

He denied two charges of possessing Class A and Class B drugs, claiming he had picked up the wrong cigarette packet from a table in the pub he had been in earlier.

But Worcester magistrates yesterday found him guilty of the offences, which took place on Friday, December 7, last year.

Rahman said he had come into Worcester from Droitwich and, after a drink in the Pig and Drum, in Lowesmoor, had gone to The Apple Tree across the road to play pool with a friend.

He claimed he had left his cigarettes and lighter on a table while they played pool and had picked up the wrong packet when he left to go to the nightclub.

He said he did not notice because it was dark in the pub and picked up a black packet instead of the gold one he claimed to have had.

But Geoffrey Dann, prosecuting, said he should have noticed the difference. "Gold and black are very different colours," he said.

He also said Rahman, of The Meadows, Fernhill Heath, said to police he had told the doorman the cigarettes were not his before he opened the packet.

Rahman said he could not remember exactly what was said to the doorman and added he was frightened when he was interviewed by the police.

Mark Lister, defending, said Rahman was a young man who had never been in trouble with the police before.

"He could have just been cautioned by the police if he had admitted it straight away, but he chose not to do so because he knows he's not guilty of the offence," he said.

The bench gave Rahman a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered him to pay £263 costs.