A man who was conned into using crushed paracetamol believing it to be cocaine has been ordered to do unpaid work.

Alexander Dillon, aged 18, of Victoria Road, Tipton, was sentenced to 80 hours at Dudley Magistrates Court yesterday for attempting to possess three wraps of the class A drug and failing to surrender to Brierley Hill police station on June 8.

Mr David Truelove, prosecuting, told the court that a Dudley police sergeant heard raised voices outside the station at around 4.10am on May 30.

Three drunk people were trying to get into a taxi, he said. Dillon was searched and found to have several wraps of white powder.

Mr Truelove told magistrates Dillon, who suffers from sickle cell anaemia, said to police: “It ain’t real. It’s not cocaine, it’s crushed paracetamol.

“I can’t get a job. That’s why I’m doing this, to make money.”

The prosecutor added: “He was trying to pass off an innocent item as a controlled drug. A friend owed him money and gave him the wraps.

“He tested it by snorting but the powder made his eyes water and burned his throat.”

Mr Gerry Vahey, defending, said Dillon was not the person who admitted crushing the paracetamol. He said Dillon had been duped into accepting the drug from a friend.

Magistrates sentenced him to 80 hours of unpaid work with £50 court costs.