Cops left stash of cannabis behind

SUPPRESSED laughter broke out in court this week when a solicitor told the magistrate that police forgot to take drugs back to the station after discovering them in his client’s Innisfail Estate house.

Debra Margaret Bidner, 61, pleaded guilty in the Innisfail Magistrates Court on Monday to possessing dangerous drugs and possessing instructions for producing dangerous drugs.

Prosecutor Jarrad Prior told the court that Bidner was charged after police searched her Reynolds Rd home on March 22.

“She declared she had cannabis in her bedroom,” he said.

“Police also located the book High Times, an encyclopedia of recreational drugs.

“The book details information on cannabis and marijuana growing.”

The weight of the cannabis was 41.3g.

Bidner’s solicitor, Chris Blishen, told the court that his client had owned the book for many years.

“My client has instructed that she did not know it was illegal to have a book,” he said.

He told the court Bidner was co-operative with police during and after the search.

“She showed them where the material was and, in fact, the police took off without the drugs,” he said.

“They had to come back 20 minutes later where my client had conveniently bagged it up for them and left it on the outside stairs.

“My client could have at any opportunity flushed it down the toilet or got rid of it.”

He told the court Bidner smoked cannabis to assist with an inoperable brain aneurysm.

Bidner was convicted and fined $500.