A TEENAGER caught with nearly 200 pills has walked free from court after it was discovered they were fakes.
Phillip Welsh was overhead talking about drugs in the toilets at Lime Street train station.
When community support police officers searched him on October 20, 2007, they discovered a package with 178 pills stuffed down his waistband.
But yesterday the 19-year-old, who said he was delivering the drugs for £50, was spared prison after Liverpool Crown Court heard the tablets contained no drugs.
Judge William George suspended a 36-week stretch at a Young Offenders’ Institute for 12 months.
He also ordered Welsh, of Helmsley Road, Halewood, to do 100 hours’ unpaid work.
But Judge George warned Welsh, who has no previous convictions, his actions could have had serious consequences.
He said: “Drugs are a very serious matters and false drugs can be more dangerous than actually the real thing because people take the false drugs, don’t get the effect they think they should have, and take more.”
Tom Watson, defending, said the court “would rarely encounter someone more remorseful”.
