A BRICKLAYER caught with nearly half a kilo of cannabis told police he had bought it as an early Christmas present for himself.

Michael Taylor was driving along the A120 near Horsley Cross in a Ford Mondeo days before the festive period in December last year when he overtook a lorry on a blind bend.

His manoeuvre was spotted by passing police officers who pulled him over.

They immediately smelled cannabis, administered a road side drug wipe which Taylor failed after testing positive for tetrahydrocannabibol - a bi-product of the drug.

Police also found five bags worth of cannabis in his car.

The 32-year-old was fully compliant with police and told them he had spent more than £2,000 on the drugs which he had bought in the Harwich area.

He said: "I work hard for my money and that was my Christmas present to myself."

Taylor, of Queen Elizabeth Way, Colchester, admitted possession of 423.4g of cannabis and drug driving at Colchester Magistrates' Court.

Elizabeth Bradshaw, mitigating, said Taylor was a family man and was remorseful for what he did.

She said: "He was celebrating a particularly lucrative work contract and made sure all his family had been looked after and there were presents for his children.

"The drugs were effectively deemed to be a Christmas present for himself.

"He is bitterly remorseful about what happened and has spent the last six months worrying about what was going to happen to him.

"He fully accepts everything which has happened was his own responsibility."

The court heard Taylor has been preparing for an inevitable driving ban by scaling back the amount of labour he has taken on and informing people he works with about the situation.

Magistrates banned him from the roads for a year.

He must also undertake 80 hours of unpaid work within the next year and pay £170 in court charges.

The cannabis will be destroyed.