A painter and decorator who peddled cannabis to pay off a drug debt has been spared an immediate jail sentence. Shamus Miah, 35, of Skipton Road, Keighley, was caught with £1,200 of the Class B drug after police stopped his car in Steeton on June 1 last year. Bags of cannabis were found in the vehicle and at a friend’s address in Caledonia Street, Keighley, Bradford Crown Court heard. Miah pleaded guilty to supplying cannabis between April 1 and June 1, 2011, possession of cannabis with intent to supply and possession of a prohibited weapon, a pepper spray. He told officers he was £6,000 in debt to his cannabis supplier and had been pressured into selling the drug. He did not realise the pepper spray, bought for his own protection, was an illegal weapon. The court heard that Miah was married with two children. He had voluntarily attended a drugs support group and weaned himself off his 15-year cannabis habit. He was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, with 180 hours of unpaid work.