A man who used an innocent man's name to rent a storage unit to keep drugs has been spared being sent to jail immediately.
Alan Peter Caine, 23, admitted charges of possessing illegal drugs with intent to supply and was handed a 12 month prison term which was suspended for a year.
When police raided his home in February 2016 they found some cannabis and £3,700 in cash. Officers also found a receipt for a storage unit in Llandudno Junction.
When the unit was searched more drugs, cannabis and amphetamine with an estimated street value of up to £22,500 were found. The unit had been rented in the name of "Alan Hughes" but CCTV footage showed Caine attending the site in person to pay the monthly rent.
Caine, of Berth y Glyd Road, Old Colwyn, told officers that 'Mr Hughes' was a drug dealer in Liverpool who stored drugs in the unit.
But Judge Nicola Jones, sitting at Caernarfon Crown Court, was told no evidence had been found to substantiate Caine's claims.
The delay in bringing Caine to court was because he had been travelling to and from Spain for work.
Defence counsel Gareth Roberts said after his initial interview he was released under investigation and attended a police station regularly but after a while he was told he no longer needed to do so.
He had then found work overseas and had travelled to and from Spain - an arrangement the police were aware of - and was not regarded as an absconder.
Mr Roberts said Caine was a young man with no previous convictions.
"This was his first conviction and he hopes his last. He has done wrong, he knows that and realises he must be punished," he added.
In addition to the prison term Caine was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and attend 20 days of rehabilitation activity.
A timetable under the Proceeds of Crime Act was set and a further hearing will be held in December to assess if Caine benefited financially from his criminality.
