A Pembroke man who was caught smoking cannabis in his car has been fined in court.

Twenty-four-year-old Joshua Daniel William Lain-Fox, of Freemans Walk, appeared at Haverfordwest magistrates court on Tuesday, charged with possessing one gram of the drug.

Prosecutor Vaughan Pritchard-Jones told magistrates that police officers entered the car park at Freshwater East on January 6, at around 11.40 pm, and saw two vehicles side by side.

“Officers could smell cannabis coming from inside a car and recovered a small bag containing cannabis. Mr. Lain, who said that he smoked the drug for medical reasons, was given a conditional discharge in December 2015, for a similar offence,” he explained.

Defence solicitor Jonathan Webb told the court that his client had been abstinent from using cannabis for a while, but that day he had been made redundant and was feeling down.

Magistrates fined Mr. Lain-Fox £80 for the offence and ordered him to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £30 victim surcharge. A destruction order for the drugs was passed.