AN IRVINE youth has been warned about using drugs after being caught in the street with cocaine.

Shaun Chalmers, 17, was caught in possession of a small quantity of the Class A drug in Dickson Drive on March 29.

Officers stopped and searched him while carrying out inquiries into a separate matter, when a bag of white powder was found in his trouser pocket.

Chalmers, of Irvine Mains Crescent, represented himself at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court last week, when he pled guilty to a charge of possession.

As the procurator fiscal didn’t have a record of the quantity or value of the cocaine involved, Chalmers, a first-time offender, provided that information to the court, telling Sheriff Iona McDonald he’d paid £25 for 1g.

When she asked where he, at just 17 years old, found the money to spend on drugs, he said he had a job at Craig Tara Holiday Park.

When she asked if his parents were aware he’d been caught with cocaine, he replied: “Yes.” Sheriff McDonald warned: “You keep taking cocaine, you’re going to end up in a sorry state.” He was ordered to pay a fine of £120.