A would-be drug dealer sentenced to the equivalent of a year in jail for every $50 worth of cannabis he had was handed a "manifestly excessive'' sentence, A Supreme Court judge has ruled.

Puisne Judge Richard Ground refused to consider a suspended sentence or probation for Bilan Furquan's offence of having 3.38 grammes of cannabis with intent to supply.

But he reduced Furquan's jail term, imposed last November by Magistrate Edward King, to just nine months.

And he said that Mr. King "had in mind sentences imposed for possession of cocaine and heroin and so misled himself.'' The written judgement added that Mr. King had said when passing sentence that the offences were "no different'' from the earlier Operation Cleansweep crimes -- and insisted Furquan's sentence should be the same as those handed down then.

But Mr. Justice Ground said that lawyer Juan Wolffe showed eight Cleansweep cases which indicated two- to two-and-a-half year sentences for hard drugs, but around a year for cannabis offences with a guilty plea.

He added: "I endorse the need for consistency. The complaint in this case is that the sentence was not in fact consistent and, in particular, was not consistent with those imposed in the class of cases to which the learned Magistrate referred, namely those arising out of Operation Cleansweep, which was a recent coordinated Police crackdown on street dealing.'' And he said: "A consideration of other recent cases not involved with Operation Cleansweep would indicate a lower range. The Crown has put no cases to the contrary before me.'' Mr. Wolffe said after the written judgement was handed down on Thursday that his client was pleased with the decision.

The lawyer added: "He accepts he made a big mistake and wants to put it behind him.'' And Mr. Wolffe said: "Because of the Cleansweep cases, the courts have been somewhat harsh with people who were not a part of the operation but have been lumped in with it.'' Mr. Ground admitted he "hesitated'' to set a custodial range -- but said it seemed that 12 months for supplying offences involving small amounts of cannabis "were in the middle of the appropriate range for a guilty plea.'' He said that Furquan was "cooperative and frankly confessed his intent'' when arrested.

Mr. Justice Ground added that Furquan had no previous record, a job, supported a child and noted his fiancee was expecting their baby.

But he said: "Drug dealing is such a scourge in Bermuda -- as elsewhere -- that dealing offences, including possession with intent to supply, should usually attract an immediate custodial sentence in the absence of exceptional circumstances warranting suspension.

"However, there is nothing which in my view could amount to exceptional circumstances so as to warrant suspension and the public policy in penalising and deterring dealing offences mitigates against probation.''