A "bright, promising schoolboy" whose life went downhill after he was the victim of a stabbing, pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis.

Javan Edwards was stopped by police with a cannabis "spliff" behind his ear while walking along Stapleton Road, Bristol. When officers asked the 22-year-old to reveal its contents, he threw it on the floor and stamped on it.

He was then searched by police, and "a bag of green vegetable matter" weighing 1.1grams was found in his coat pocket.

Edwards, of Heath Road, Eastville, told police that the cannabis was for his own personal use, and that he smoked between £10 and £15 of the drug each day.

Bristol Magistrates' Court was told how Edwards was a bright student at school, and then his life was ruined when he was involved in a stabbing incident at college.

The court heard it took him two years to recover from the ordeal and that he found smoking cannabis "calms him down" but he is now "anxious to get back to the life he once had".

On April 24, Edwards was sentenced to a one-year community order, of 80 hours' unpaid work, for the possession of a class B drug.

The court was told how Edwards, who is on jobseekers' allowance, had just applied for a job with the fire brigade, and realised that he would need to stop smoking cannabis if he wanted to get back into work.

Magistrate Ian Brailey said: "It's great to hear you're coming off drugs. We don't want to see you here again."

Edwards was ordered to pay a £60 fine, a £15 victim surcharge, and £30 towards costs.